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 This Is Your Moment

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AT 3
AT 4
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 REGULARS

Editor
Mark Davie

ED SPACE
mark@audiotechnology.com.au
Publisher
Philip Spencer
philip@alchemedia.com.au
Editorial Director
Christopher Holder
A Year In... chris@audiotechnology.com.au
Graphic Designer
Text: Mark Davie Leigh Ericksen
leigh@alchemedia.com.au
Art Director
Dominic Carey
dominic@alchemedia.com.au
Advertising
Paul Cunningham
paul@alchemedia.com.au
Accounts
Jaedd Asthana
jaedd@alchemedia.com.au
Subscriptions

Miriam Mulcahy
mim@alchemedia.com.au
Its been a lightning quick first year as editor of Proofreading
AudioTechnology, so I thought Id take a Andrew Bencina
minute to remember whats happened. Theres been: Regular Contributors
Martin Walker
Resurrections: Allans and Billy Hydes, the giants A 300-pound gorilla of a Michael Stavrou
Paul Tingen
of Australias music retail scene, fell hard and took
a distribution network with it. It turned into a MIDI controller, a two- Graeme Hague
Guy Harrison

kilometre track of
Greg Walker
free-for-all brands were split across the country James Roche
Greg Simmons
and customers picked over the stores remains.
Then in the 11th hour, an one-time employee (and musical instruments Tom Flint
Robin Gist
significant industry player in his own right, John played by a car, a satellite Blair Joscelyne
Mark Woods
Gallen) salvaged a deal out of the grave, ensuring
the famous marques will live on.
iPhone ensemble, and a Andrew Bencina
Jason Fernandez

record player that plays a

Brent Heber

Game changing ideas: Nexos STM rethinking

the way that production companies do business, trees rings

Behringer once again changing the price/features
ratio with its X32 digital console and living up
to the hype, Digicos UB MADI taking a big idea
and squeezing it into a simple small box, Keith
Mcmillens QuNeo and a whole bunch of innovative
controllers; the uptake in rectangular microphone
capsule design; and spatial audio innovation
between the Sydney Opera House and Iosono, with
Dolbys Atmos system bringing a similar experience
to the cinema soon.
The Olympics: With Danny Boyle at the helm,
Underworld providing the underscore, a whos
who of British music acts, and a bunch of Aussies
on the audio team, the spectacle that comes only
once every four years didnt disappoint. And the
Paralympians were treated to a full-blown Coldplay
concert that had everyone jealous.
Last Word: Choice wise words from some all-time
greats such as Eddie Kramer, Rory Kaplan, Don
Bartley, Ern Rose, Elliot Scheiner, Cubby Colby,
and, this issue, the irreplaceable Mark Opitz.
Crazy contraptions: A 300-pound gorilla of a
MIDI controller, a two-kilometre track of musical
instruments played by a car, a satellite iPhone
ensemble, and a record player that plays a trees rings.
Innovative recordings:Audiophiles hanging
around playgrounds sticking contact microphone
on slides, and others recreating the sound of the
60s with plug-ins.
An icon rebuilt: The dust covers were finally pulled
from Victorias renovated Hamer Hall to reveal a
first-of-its-kind acoustic reflector.
And of course, weve been behind the scenes of
a bunch of great local and international records
and live performances, uncovering the tips, tricks,
hard work, and magic of some of the worlds best
producers, engineers and musicians.
But as we hit the holiday season, its nice to
remember a few moments of good will. A couple
that come to mind are Andrew Bencinas trip to
the WAAC in the town of Balgo where he flew
in a Cessna-load of gear generously donated by a
number of Australian pro audio distributors that
were thinking more local than most of us. And
Jack The Bear giving up a regular day of mastering
income to donate the proceeds to charity.
Im sure theres more, but all in all, a great year, and
cant wait to see what comes in 2013. Thanks for
reading and be sure to drop us a line; let us know
what youre up to over the break.
Distribution by:
Network Distribution Company.
AudioTechnology magazine
(ISSN 1440-2432) is published by Alchemedia
Publishing Pty Ltd
(ABN 34 074 431 628).
Contact (Advertising, Subscriptions)
T: +61 2 9986 1188
PO Box 6216, Frenchs Forest
NSW 2086, Australia.
Contact (Editorial)
T: +61 3 5331 4949
PO Box 295, Ballarat
VIC 3353, Australia.
E: info@alchemedia.com.au
W: www.audiotechnology.com.au
All material in this magazine is copyright
2012 Alchemedia Publishing Pty Ltd. Apart
from any fair dealing permitted under the
Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by
any process with out written permission. The
publishers believe all information supplied
in this magazine to be correct at the time
of publication. They are not in a position to
make a guarantee to this effect and accept
no liability in the event of any information
proving inaccurate. After investigation and
to the best of our knowledge and belief,
prices, addresses and phone numbers were
up to date at the time of publication. It is not
possible for the publishers to ensure that
advertisements appearing in this publication
comply with the Trade Practices Act, 1974.
The responsibility is on the person, company
or advertising agency submitting or
directing the advertisement for publication.
The publishers cannot be held responsible
for any errors or omissions, although
every endeavour has been made to ensure
complete accuracy. 10/12/2012.

AT 8
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AT 10
 CONTENTS92

LIVE

Coldplay
& Radiohead
Two of the biggest bands in the world tour Oz
at the same time, and AT was along for the ride.

38 & 44

FEATURES
32 Space Time Concerto
34 Inside The Music Group Home
38 Playtime: Coldplay Live
44 Good Buzz: Radiohead Live
Nobody Does It Better 58
64
Kelly Country: Recording Spring & Fall
Messaging The World
Adele & Co pull out all stops to deliver a theme
song in the grand Bassey/Barry tradition. 52
REGULARS
74 Mac Notes
76 PC Audio
98 Last Word, Mark Opitz

TUTORIALS
48 Live Recording Dos & Donts
Avid HD Thunderbolt 66 A Standard Mix Up
Bolt out of the blue. Who is Avid 70 Stavs Word: Facelift Vox
aiming its thunderbolt at? 90
REVIEWS
SUBSCRIBE & WIN! 24
78
Zoom Q2HD Handy Video Recorder
Line 6 Stagescape Digital Live Mixer
A $4400 BEHRINGER X32 82 Arturia V Collection 3 Soft Synths
DIGITAL MIXING CONSOLE 88 RCF Ayra Monitors
SEE PAGE 97 92 Pearl DS60 Microphone
94 SM Pro M Patch V2 Monitor Controller
Cover Image: Marty Philbey
 REGULARS
YOUR WORD
Readers Letters
I was lucky enough to escape to Melbournea
couple of weekends agowith my beautiful wife
(the three kids left behind) and departed Sydney
armed with an interest in seeing the newly
renovated Hamer Hall as described in Issue 90,
and enjoying some quality time together. I was
well pleased to find the Impossible Orchestra
24-hour concert raising awareness for carers
was scheduled for the same weekend. We caught
the Orchestra around 9am and stayed for their
17th hour of performance and even got to waltz
in the aisles! The venue is a fantastic collage
of technology and tradition. The performance,
sound quality and multi-camera visuals on
that massive screen created a very absorbing
experience. The acoustic reflector looks amazing
and certainly made me appear brilliant as I rattled
off its amazing features to anyone who dared
listen to me for the next several days. Thank
you AT for continuing to publish diverse and
interesting audio stories that can augment our
experiences in the real world.
Phill C, High School Music Teacher
on the South Coast, NSW
FYI Presonus has released a firmware update
that introduces phase two of their Smaart
integration to the Studiolive 16.4.2 and 24.4.2.
Both now have wizards for room analysis and
delay calculation.
Alvin Prasad
With reference to the discussion of Windows 8
audio drivers in your PC Audio column (Issue
91), one change Microsoft has made is to the
way hardware audio peak meters are handled.
Any KSPROPERTY_AUDIO_PEAKMETER
handler exposed by drivers is now ignored, with
Windows 8 instead looking for KSPROPERTY_
AUDIO_PEAKMETER2 handlers. The only
difference in functionality is that the latter
expects 32-bit peak values instead of the 16-bit
values previously used. Any driver not supporting
KSPROPERTY_AUDIO_PEAKMETER2 will
instead have its peak meters created in software,
adding to the CPU burden of any applications
reading peak meter values.
Jeff Pages, Senior Development Engineer at
Innes Corporation
AT 12
Eskimo Joe are the latest group to declare
independence, self-funding their next album
through a fans pledge system using Pozible. The
target is $40,000 to create EJs sixth album and
theyve already smashed that mark. Topping the
pledge options is a $6000 Eskimo Joe-cooked
barbeques for 20 of your mates and they sold
out! Is this the way forward for musicians, or
blatant cashing in?
Doesnt really count if your band is
ex-major label.
Rob Mac
This is interesting. Theyre still signed to Warner
though yeah? Have they split or are major label
bands using crowd funding now? I guess it would
take some of the guess work out of it for the
label. Anyway, not that I have a problem with it;
its just interesting.
Fronz Arp
What will the $40k go towards more curiously?
Recording/studio costs clearly arent the issue,
what with their own facility at their fingertips
(other than this mystery producer they have
onboard). Perhaps theyll get a good mix
engineer too who will eat up the dollars nicely.
Or is it going to be used post-the-creative
process? Not agreeing or disagreeing with it at
all, but it is very interesting indeed.
Tristan Hoogland
Depends on whether a band needs to get self-
funding by crowd funding. I dont know EJs
circumstances. Some bands may need to if they
cant fund it themselves. It may be the sign of the
times, people are struggling?
Mark Killey
I cant understand how they would need funding
for their projects, seems like taking advantage.
Paul Clark
I agree Paul. The idea is pretty cool, beats the
prostate exam that is record companies but
yeah, not sure why Eskimo Joe would need it.
They should have buckets of cash seems more
like a publicity stunt for the upcoming album if
you ask me...
Rory ODonnell
They own a studio and yet they need 40g to
make an album? Somebodys taking the piss...
Greg Reason
Are they chronic alcoholics? $40,000? Or are
they writing it while three top producers mix
their jams to play back to them?
Luke Shreddar
I suppose the money will go to decent packaging
and quality product. Fuck the flimsy jewel-cases,
Id much rather a nice gatefold vinyl. The money
is actually going to getting a copy of the album
itself, not just the production costs.
Dean Andersen
Im curious where the $40k is going myself. Is
it post-the-creative/production process? I mean
these things can easily reach $40k if done that
way. It can cost anywhere between $2-5k a track
for a big name mix engineer, so you have that,
on top of that a producer thats top notch enough
to remain nameless, that can be similar per track
for enough days. Mastering by a big guy for an
album, again $3-5k. That said, these would be
considered luxuries in this situation. Begging
should be left to those who havent got such a
facility at their fingertips.
Tristan Hoogland
CLA is not cheap, ya know!
John Nymo Nyman
It has been revealed in a number of other cases
that these sites are being used purely to publicise
a project, with many of the contributions coming
from the fundees or their backers. Theyre going
to spend the money anyway so this gives them
viral promo. Perhaps....? Hmm.
Jonny Honestly
Black fingernails red wine Im gonna make
you all mine.... Maybe they need to buy some
better lyrics?
Tommy Grules
In the end nobody is being held at gun-point to
invest but, if Eskimo Joe need this style of fund-
raising after the success theyve had then it tells
a pretty sad story of where the music industry is
at in this country.
Grant Ferstat
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AT 13
 REGULARS
WHATS ON
All the latest from around
the studio traps
The team at Deluxe Mastering, Melbourne,
congratulates Jeff Lang and all involved for the
ARIA Award win for Best Blues and Roots
Album Carried In Mind, recorded by Dave
Manton, mixed by Colin Wynne, assisted by
Rohan Kay at Thirty Mill Studios and mastered
by Tony Jack The Bear Mantz. Jack has
mastered projects for Eddie Bravo, The Big City,
Captcha, Peking Duk, Electro Mafia, Waking
Eden, Ben Caruso, DJ Rubz & Sherlock, Rattlin
Cain, Anna Johnson andfinishing off (Dirty
Threes) Mick Turners solo album. He has also
started the Jack the Bear Foundation offering
mastering for a donation one day a month in
aid of various charities. Getting the analogue
mastering treatment with Adam Dempsey: an
album for vinyl release from Matt Bailey (The
Paradise Motel) produced by Brent Punshon at
Head Gap, two new albums for acclaimed jazz
saxophonist and clarinetist Adam Simmons
Origami Trio, engineered and mixed by Myles
Mumford, The Pierce Brothers, engineered and
mixed by Fraser Montgomery at The Aviary, The
String Contingent, and instrumental rock trio
The Boats. Andrei Ony Eremin has mastered
releases for The Honey Badgers, Brightly, Rat &
Co and House of Laurence.
Whilst Coldplay were out here on tour, Studios
301 were very happy to host them in their
Sydney Neve Studio, assisted by Jono Baker. Also
in the studios, theyve had The Vines, Vydamo
(a new side project from Jim Finn of Art vs
Science) with producer Tim Carr, Nantes with
Simon Todkill and Dialectrix with Simon Cohen.
Up in Byron Bay, Nick DiDia has been working
with Adam Eckersley and Pete Murray.301
has also launched a brand new website for the
recording studios, where you can see complete
tech specs, producer bios, discographies and 360
degree tours of all the recording studios. Over
in mastering, Leon Zervos has been mastering
tunes for Stan Walker, The Cat Empire, Justice
Crew and X-Factor. Steve Smart has been
working on tracks for Tripod, New Primary
Groove, and Midnight Oil re-issues, Andrew
Edgson has mastered Vydamo and 5 Seconds of
Summer, Sameer Sengupta has been doing more
tracks for Rick Lee and Ben Feggans tweaking
songs for Trinity & Beyond, Hubert Folmli,
Mighty Joe and Deya Dova.
Victorias Toyland Recording Studio has had
Adelaides Ride Into The Run in for a week, being
AT 14
produced by members of Texas-based band The
Black Angels who were over on tour with Harvest
Festival. Adam Calaitzishas completed mixing
The DC3 album, and the boys from Slightly Left
Of Centre were in to mix their pop/rock single.
Melbourne singer Melissa James has finished her
new single and it has been sent toBrian Gardener
in the US for mastering. Hard rockers Killshot
have also completed tracking and are moving
onto mixing.
The past few weeks at Lush Studios in Brisbane
has seen producer/engineer Sean Cook come in
for the first time, working with local band The
Arachnids. Brisbane Band Little Scout, after
successful rotation with their last single on Triple
J, have been busy back in the studio working
on their new album, again with their drummer
(and Lush house engineer) Miro Mackie at the
helm engineering and co-producing with the
other members of the band. Miro has also been
working on mixes for Major Leagues and on the
soundtrack for the film Bad Behaviour, written by
Luke McDonald from The John Steel Singers. Ric
Parker from R&D Records has spent quite a bit of
time at Lush over the past two months, including
10 days mixing a new album for DieVsCity
and also tracking and mixing a five-track EP
for Tessa Marie.Zac Wilson (after completing
a three-year Bachelor of Music degree at the
QLD Conservatorium of Music) has also joined
the team as studio assistant and was assisting
Sean Cook on his first session at Lush, Zac will
also run the edit/production suite (currently
under construction) for Pro Tools editing, post-
production and voice-overs. Meanwhile house
studio tech Jason has finally had the chance to
patch in the four rather rare and tasty Peach
Audio tube mic pres that Lush Studios were
lucky enough to snag from Gigpiglet Productions
(a mighty big thanks to Gareth Stuckey is
apparently due). Jason also got around to racking
up the vintage Federal AM864 and RCA BA6A
tube compressors (with Ric loving them both and
putting them to work overtime with his mixes).
Amongst new bits of kit purchased, Lush has also
added two pairs of Adam A7X monitors, being
for both the main studio and the production suite
to ensure accurate referencing between rooms.
Nathan Johnson has been chained to his sonic
dojo, Mixosmosis, finalising the mixes for The
Drawing Class first EP and sent the babies off to
William Bowden for mastering. Nathan has also
mixed a single for local artist Trent Stewart, and a
very interesting mix for students from Cranbrook
High Schools version of the folk song Tiger &
Lightning with Sydney producer Roger Lock.
In his spare time Nathan has been tracking and
mixing Sydney songwriter Nathan Brands EP.
On the post-production side, hes been mixing
several TVCs, a doco on Red Bull Aussie cliff
diver Joey Zuber, and several episodes of the
International Body Boarding World series. New
gear is a lovely Thermionic Culture The Phoenix
stereo valve compressor and a pair of JLM Audio
PEQ-1 Passive EQs.
Blair Joscelyne from Nylon Studios has been
busy working on music for the Mazda range
including the CX9, Mazda 6 and Mazda 3. He
also recently recorded an original song with
Glenn Cunningham from The Voice for the
IGA chain of supermarkets which is on air now.
Blairs new single See You At The End received
over 220,000 views on YouTube in the first two
weeks of release and was created with Cinematic
Strings 2 which he recently reviewed in this
very magazine. Outside of the studio, Blair is
undertaking a project for his YouTube series
Mighty Car Mods that involves using beer and
urine to paint a car. We were too scared to ask for
more details but he promises us a photo
next issue.
Matt Dever of D4 Studios has been packing
his bags and doing what he can to dodge the
weight limits before heading off with Simple
Minds, Devo, and The Church. Hell be making
live recordings of each band on-the-fly at each
of their eight Australian dates. The recordings
will then be duplicated and sold at the concert
straight after each act. Hell also be popping over
to the Enmore in Sydney on his day off to do the
same for Blondie.
AT 15

Phil Threlfall had been getting out of his home
at The Base Studios with rock duo The Twoks,
recording their full-length album Two in a bunch
of alternative places from the 1812 Theatre in
Ferntree Gully, to a concrete and tin workshop, to
an underground carpark precisely because they
werentclean and predictable. In the workshop,
drummer Mark Leahy even managed to bang out
a few extra percussive sounds with a hammer.
From an engineering perspective capturing the
uniqueness of a drum and violin duo in these
uncontrolled spaces was a challenge Phil was
very happy to tackle. To that end, lots of ribbon
mics (Royer 121s) were used because of their
smooth sound and equally important figure 8
pattern, along with lots of omni and M/S setups
using Schoeps, Neumann and AKG mics for all
the ambience. That was supported by the usual
suspects on close mic duties RE20s, 421s, 57s,
IN THE DARK
SCAN ME!
Check out a beautiful clip
of Xani shot while she was
recording Youll Never
Change in the darkness
WHATS HAPPENING?
Got any news about the happenings in your
studio or venue? Be sure to let us know at
whatson@audiotechnology.com.au
AT 16
D6 and more 121s. A particular favourite track
of Phils is Youll Never Change, recorded in the
underground carpark. The majority (but not all)
of the lead vocals were recorded back at The Base,
along with extra, more traditional percussion,
and the mix on The Bases Amek console for a bit
of sonic icing. Other sessions at The Base have
been equally diverse; some world music with Ajak
Kwai, jazz trio Fred Cheah, hip hop with Bliss n
Eso, prog rock with Transience, ska with Strada9
and to finish off the year itll be an album mix
for local Croatian lads Major Minor. Aside from
all the recording and mixing sessions, theyve
been playing with the new ethernet-powered
16-channel headphone system from Behringer
which, while very cost effective compared to the
competition appears to be working exceptionally
well. The response from the players that have used
both it and the more expensive alternate systems
has been very positive. If it keeps trucking along,
Phil reckons they may have a winner.
Bob Scott has been hearing plenty of Voices In
The Forest lately. Its and opera hes been mixing
in the Canberra Arboretum using a large Meyer
Milo rig from Coda Audio (18 per side) with
the new Yamaha CL5 and CL1 consoles. Its the
first time hes used the consoles and so far Bob
is, Impressed. Easy to use and sound great. Bob
has also done sound design for Sydney Festival
Concrete and Bone, with extensive use of the
outrageous Ohmicide plug-in (an oldy but a
goody) from Ohmboys. He also had a session
with Radioheads Jonny Greenwood and the
Australian Chamber Orchestra to record a piece
Jonny had been commissioned to write. Lastly,
Bob has been mixing for the Cope Street Parade
Big Band, as well as recording Continuum Sax
(sax quartet) and the Sydney Consort (baroque
music with harpsichord, sackbuts, early
trombones, and strings).
REC Studios in Sydney has just turned one. The
previous Studios 301, then Level 7 Studios, has
had a good run in its first year, with producers
like Lee Groves and Dean Tuza (The Rubens)
working out of the studio, as well as a troupe of
in-house producers. In the last 12 months The
Presets, The Rubens, The Script and New Navy
have all made their way through the studio.
Creative industries training and education
provider JMC Academy is relocating the
organisation to a new purpose-built three-
level campus in Harris Street, Ultimo, Sydney.
Spanning just under 3000 square feet, the Ultimo
Campus sits opposite the Powerhouse Museum
within the education hub of central Sydney.
Its a pretty speccy spot for students, being a
stones throw from Darling Harbour and China
Town think relaxed afternoons in the sun,
cheap eats, and after school gigs at The Metro.
The timely move coincides with the institutions
30 year anniversary and will provide its music,
audio, entertainment business, film and
television, animation and game design students
with unsurpassed access to four recording
studios, seven rehearsal rooms, a film and TV
studio and control room, sound and picture
theatre, two MIDI labs, two computer labs, two
film and TV editing suites, an auditorium, 13
lecture/media rooms, a library, student study
area with collaboration rooms and a student caf.
Sounds like a great place to learn the craft. JMC
will be moving on the 14th of December and
opening up shop again on the 17th.
 Available from now until the release of Live 9 at your local dealer and at ableton.com
Buy Ableton Suite 8, get up to 25% off plus a free upgrade to Live 9 Suite.
Buy Ableton Live 8, get up to 25% off plus a free upgrade to Live 9 Standard.
Buy Ableton Live Intro, get up to 25% off.

Distributed by CMI Music & Audio. Ph: 03 9315 2244. Find a dealer at: www.cmi.com.au/ableton-dealers.html

Onge.
Sta
The
G o.
On

On Top.

AT 17
GENERAL NEWS
HEARD, BUT NOT SEEN
Shure has released the new FP series of
cost-effective field production wireless
systems. Compatible with the Shure SLX
family, the FP series consists of four
separate components. The FP1 Field
production body-pack has no display
and minimal characteristics to allow the
body-pack to be used on-camera with
little to no distraction no blinking
LEDs or LCD displays to drag the
audiences eyes away from the real story.
The FP2 Field production handheld has
a similar design principal, a bare-bones
appearance to have minimal on-camera
impact. The handhelds are supplied with
UK company Kenton is sticking to its
5-pin DIN guns in the face of modern
technology, believing that the popularity
of retro MIDI gear creates a need for its
new SYNC-5 Active DIN Sync Splitter. It
has one DIN Sync input and five DIN Sync
output ports to enable users to easily
connect several DIN Sync devices to one
DIN Sync controlling device without
the usual problems often associated
with daisy-chaining devices. Housed
in an attractively finished, brushed
aluminium box with black screen print,
the SYNC-5 ships with an energy-
efficient, switch-mode PSU appropriate
to the destination country including
Australia.
www.kentonuk.com
AT 18
either SM58 or the new omnidirectional
VP68 heads. The FP3 is a plug-on
transmitter based on the UR3, featuring
the same chassis with user-only viewed
LEDs for both audio and battery and
a direct gain control on the unit. The
FP3 comes with a protective skin and
belt clip. Finally, the FP5 Diversity
portable receiver is a single channel
portable receiver compatible with the
FP series or SLX transmitters. The FP5
is supplied with a camera shoe mount, a
TA4-F to XLR-3 and a TA4-F to mini jack
for DSLRs. Stocks are expected to be
available soon.
Jands:
(02) 9582 0909 or info@jands.com.au
ENCO Systems, the software
development company of DAD and DAD
TV, a specialist in audio play-out and
automation solutions has announced
Professional Audio Technology (PAT)
as its new exclusive distributor for
Australia and New Zealand. PAT sees
products like ENCO1 as a solution
for customers who rely on a purely to Propellerheads dealers and end-user
IP-based system infrastructure within
their station, while ENCOs DAD in Line 6 has moved to Australis who
combination with a more traditional
MADI infrastructure provides
broadcasters with delivery options
within their plant or entire national
network infrastructure.
Professional Audio Technology:
(02) 94761272 or
sales@proaudiotechnology.com.au
NEUMANN MONITORS
ACCURACY
Expanding its line of studio monitors,
Neumanns KH310A is a three-way
system that reflects Neumanns
philosophy of achieving the most
accurate sound reproduction using
state-of-the-art technology and
techniques the same philosophy
applied to its microphones. The
KH310A treble, midrange and bass
drivers have all been simulated and
designed directly by Neumann to give
an extremely linear reproduction
across the entire frequency response.
Accuracy in the bass, which goes down
to 34Hz, is achieved by using a sealed
cabinet design to give a fast transient
Another couple of lost waifs from
the Musiclink fall-out have found a
new home. Propellerhead Software
announced that it has selected Electric
Factory (ELFA) as the exclusive
distributor for Propellerhead products in
Australia. Starting December 1, ELFA will
provide marketing, sales and logistics
a fight and he couldnt save all 25 stores,
customers throughout Australia. Also,
would be boarded up for good they
will handle all things Line 6 effective
immediately.
Electric Factory: (03) 9474 1000
or www.elfa.com.au
Australis: (02) 9698 4444 or
www.australismusic.com.au
response. The mid-frequencies are
re-produced by a dedicated soft dome
midrange driver, and high frequencies
are handled by an alloy fabric dome in
an elliptical Mathematically Modelled
Dispersion (MMD) waveguide. Three
class AB amplifiers and a high capacity
SMPS power supply bring very high
headroom to the system with no audible
distortion, and there are acoustical
controls for bass, low-mid and high
frequencies. Neumann assures us that
the tolerances are so small that any
two KH 310 A monitors can serve as
a matched pair. You have to wait until
1st quarter of 2013 to get your hands
on them.
Syntec:
1800 648 628 or sales@syntec.com.au
In a genuine 11th hour reprieve its been
revealed that Australian Musical Imports
has bought most of the Allans and
Billy Hyde assets, including the trading
names, and plans to rebuild the franchise
back to a fully-trading chain of music
retail stores. AMIs Managing Director,
Con Gallin, reckons the receivers put up
but in the final days before the windows
agreed to a deal that should see most of
the key outlets remaining open. Existing
staff have been invited to stay.
Enrol
Listen
Record
Mix
Master
Tour
Produce the
next big thing
What will your creative
future look like?
Degrees and Diplomas in Audio Engineering, Music,
Entertainment Business Management, 3D Animation,
Game Design, and Film and Television Production. Start Feb 2013
Launch your creative journey through collaboration, education
and training at JMC Academy.

Your creative future starts today.

Visitjmcacademy.edu.au or call on 1300 410 311.
facebook.com/jmcacademy twitter.com/jmcacademy
AT 19
CATCH SOME been crafted to recreate the sound of a
classic tube preamp in a combo or head
MORE ZEDS guitar amp. One of the stereo inputs
can accommodate MP3/CD players
Allen & Heath has launched two
or keyboards via RCA inputs. Both
additions to the ZED series of small
mixers are equipped with configurable
analogue mixers, designed for use by
USB audio in/out, making it easy to
solo artists and small bands. The aim
capture a stereo recording at a gig or
is to reduce size and cost with 60mm
in the studio, XLR main stereo outputs,
short-throw, high quality faders. The
internal power supply and detachable
input configurations of the ZED60-
IEC cable, a flexible monitoring section
10FX and ZED60-14FX are four mono/
with headphone and speaker feed
three stereo and eight mono/three
outputs, and 16 high-quality digital
stereo respectively with two of the
effects developed from the iLive digital
mono channels offering high impedance
mixing system. Retail price in Australia
jack inputs that can take a normal line
for the ZED60-10FX is $599 and for
level or a low level input from a guitar
the ZRF60-14FX $699.
pickup, so guitars can be plugged
Technical Audio Group:
straight into the mixer without the (02) 9519 0900 or www.tag.com.au
need for DI boxes. These inputs have

RODE REPORTS IN that is designed to give the user better

RDE Microphones has announced a
new addition to its line of broadcast
and AV products, the Reporter
microphone. As weve come to expect
from Rode, it has given the Reporter
a bit of thought with some quite
specific features for the task at hand.
Designed for handheld interview and
presentation applications, an innovative
multi-layer mesh basket protects
the microphone from environmental
noise without the need for a bulky and
distracting foam wind shield. Its also
supplied with a removable microphone
flag that can accommodate high-
visibility branding. The Reporter uses
an omnidirectional dynamic capsule
results in a media scrum, avoiding
issues typical of directional end-
address microphones when the talent
is addressing a multitude of hand-
held microphones at the same time.
Additionally its frequency response
has been specially tailored for voice
reproduction, to maximise intelligibility
and deliver crisp, clear results in
almost any conditions. The microphone
features a durable die-cast aluminium
alloy body coated in a discrete matte
black anti-glare finish. The only thing
lacking is a BS cut-off filter for the
pollies on parliament steps.
Rode:
(02) 9648 5855 or www.rodemic.com.au

CURE THAT WIND consists of a Lyre suspension, a

cable clamp, and a 145mm stereo
PROBLEM windshield and windjammer large
enough to comfortably accommodate
UK-based windshield manufacturer
the microphones. A specially-designed
Rycote has announced a new product
Rycote mounting adapter bar keeps
designed specifically for stereo
the microphones at the correct spacing
recording with a matched pair of
and angle for ORTF recording, and the
microphones in an ORTF configuration.
Lyre suspension and shared windshield
ORT what, you may ask? ORTF
combine to provide a solution that is
stereo recording was pioneered by
extremely resistant to wind noise and
the engineers at the French state
unwanted vibrations such as cable-
broadcaster in the 1960s, and is
borne and handling noise. Further
defined as using a stereo pair of
protection against cable-borne noise
microphones with the capsules spaced
can be achieved by purchasing variants
17cm apart, and at an angle of 110
of the ORTF kit which include a
degrees to each other. Rycotes new
Rycote Connbox.
ORTF Windshield kit is designed
Syntec:
for matched pairs of Schoeps CCM 1800 648 628 or sales@syntec.com.au
or Sennheiser MKH 8000 mics, and

AT 20
Obsessing with linear frequency responses and other technical details, or in fact just wanting
to please your ears, is not the right recipe for a good studio monitor. What is usually needed is
a good balance. A balance between the work youre listening and a realistic sense of what your
final output will be. Exceptional sound reproduction is of course fundamental in good monitoring
speakers. But its equally important that your work is properly translated in a way that your music
sounds consistent in other speakers or rooms.

Listen to EVE Audio for yourself. And let your ears decide. Find a dealer at elfa.com.au

Electric Factory Pty Ltd 188 Plenty Road Preston VIC 3072 T: 03 9474 1000 E: sales@elfa.com.au AT 21
 GENERAL NEWS

NEW AGE NUAGE other and the central computer via a

We know that Yamaha and Steinberg
joined forces long ago, but on this
occasion they have worked closely
together to create an advanced
production system with Yamaha
hardware tailored specifically for
Steinberg software in a cohesive
platform. The Nuage integrated audio
production system offers Yamaha
control and interface hardware
hand-in-hand with Steinberg Nuendo
DAW software in a purpose-built
system for all things audio, but of
course being Nuendo-based, post-
production will also be a strong focus.
The Yamaha hardware is modular,
and all units communicate with each
Dante network, so its easy to create
custom configurations to match any
application. Nuendo 6, the latest
version of Steinbergs DAW post-
production software, is at the core of
the system. Hardware components
available for Nuage systems include
the Nuage Fader channel-strip control
surface that works with standard LCD
monitors, the Nuage Master controller
unit with everything needed for Nuendo
editing, Nuage Workspace units for
creating a unified system layout, three
Nuage I/O units that deliver up to 128
simultaneous channels, and a Dante
Accelerator card.
Yamaha Music Australia:
(03) 9693 5111 or www.yamahamusic.com.au

RADIAL PLUG & PLAY
Radial Engineering has announced
the 500 series Q4 EQ, claiming it
could very well be the worlds first
100% discrete state-variable class-A
parametric equaliser since mid-last
century. The Q4 features four EQ bands
with fixed low and high frequency
shelving at 100Hz and 10kHz, plus
two semi-parametric mid bands. The
Q4 is made in Canada and guaranteed
for three years. Adding more fuel
to Radials workhorse series is the
Chaindrive 1x4 Distro and Line Driver,
which lets you split a signal four
ways for some creative signal chains.
Also new from Radial are the Gold
Digger Microphone Selector and the
Cherry Picker Preamp Selector. The
Gold Digger lets you compare up to
four microphones and quickly switch
between them using radio-style push-
button selectors. The Cherry Picker lets
you compare up to four preamps in the
same way. Its a great idea, although at
$499 each, youd want to be switching
between some pretty pricey gear to
make it worthwhile.
Amber Technology:
1800 251367 or www.ambertech.com.au

PRISM TURNS 25 with a Thunderbolt adapter. Prism

Prism Sound has been in business now for 25
years always a number worth celebrating. To
mark the anniversary, Prism Sound announced the
launch of a limited edition Orpheus, its flagship
firewire interface. Only 25 of these limited edition
units will be offered for sale and each one will
numbered. Every Orpheus in the series features a
black chassis and blue LED panel, and carries the
signature of its creator, Prism Sounds Technical
Director Ian Dennis. The units also come complete
Sound is anticipating a huge
demand for the limited edition
creating just 25, symbolic or
not, could come back to haunt
them so the limited units will be
sold on a first come, first served ASIO and WDM) as well as Mac OS X 10.4.11
basis. Ian Dennis has even been dobbed in by Prism and later (Intel and PPC). Once configured with a
management to personally fine tune and polish computer, Orpheus can also operate stand-alone
every one. The Orpheus provides state-of-the-art using its AES S/PDIF or ADAT I/O accelerator card.
clock technology in a FireWire unit compatible
CDA Professional Audio:
with all recent Windows versions (32 and 64-bit, (02) 9330 1750 or www.cda-proaudio.com

AT 22
DISCOVER WHERE
YOU FIT IN THE
CREATIVE INDUSTRY

For more information visit: www.sae.edu.au or call 1800 SAE EDU

Brisbane | Byron Bay | Sydney | Melbourne | Adelaide | Perth
AT 23
 REVIEW
ZOOM Q2HD
HANDY VIDEO RECORDER
A handy recorder that gives you plenty of
audio to go along with your HD video.
Review: Mark Davie
Zoom makes great hand-held audio
recorders, in a range of styles. For example,
the H4ns input combination, quality and price
has made it a go-to field recorder for the DSLR
revolution. Theres plenty of competition in this
market, but its hard to pip the Zoom for features
at its price point its packed.
The Q2HD is badged as a handy video recorder,
and, theres no doubting its handiness, but dont
expect miracles out of its small lens were
talking about an image quality similar to your
smartphone. The bit rate of the compressed
H.264 file going into the camera is about
15Mbps, which means static video is represented
well, but its not going to cope so well with lots
of detail and motion in the frame. There are a
couple of video setting options for low light, but
again, this isnt a low light, high ISO beast.
The video features are plentiful. Probably one
of the most enticing for musicians would be the
incorporation of live streaming video via services
like Ustream, direct from the Q2HD. You just
have to plug it into the computer via USB, and
youve got a great stereo capture and video fans
can view, or artists you might be collaborating
with. A lot of options there.
MS DELIGHTS
Video aside, like all the other recorders in Zooms
range, it is a genuinely handy audio recorder.
AT 24
Zoom has gone through a range of stereo miking
methods on its recorders: coincident setups in
varying degrees, four input surround, and Mid-
Side. The Q2HD uses a Mid-Side configuration
hidden inside a disco ball grille propped on top
of the recorder.
Its a nice configuration, that allows you to set the
gain of the sides to capture a 30- to 150-degree
stereo perspective, or purely mono. The sound
is crisp, detailed, and incredibly wide at its
furthest point. Obviously the gain of the side
microphones goes up the wider you get, but its
not very noisy. You can also set a low cut filter,
and there are three auto gain settings for Concert,
Solo, or Meeting.
You can record PCM wavs in 16- and 24-bit, at
44.1, 48 and 96k, as well as AAC compressed files
at 64 to 320kbps. You can also turn the camera off
to save battery and space if you only want to use
the Q2HD as an audio recorder. While recording
HD video, youll get a couple of hours of battery
life (two AAs, alkaline or rechargeable Ni-MH).
The menu is really easy to navigate, though
hampered a little by the touchpad. My fingers
were a little big and often would move the cursor
when I was aiming to select an item. One thing
that always irked me about the H4n was the on/
off slider. While neatly tucked away so you dont
accidentally waste your batteries in transit, it
had the tendency to come off. The Q2HD has
a nice push button instead. You have to hold it
down for a second to turn the unit on or off, but
its unlikely to detach. The mic gain is set by a
roller on the side. The only problem I see with
the buttons and a common trait with most
portable recorders is that you can hear them
click in the recording, and handling noise isnt
the best.
HANDY CAM
While the Q2HDs video quality is not best
afield, its also intended more for portability than
high quality broadcast. Its like a smartphone,
but with much better audio. Id look at it
as a great audio recorder that doubles as a
convenient way to capture a moment and share
it easily. Very handy indeed.
The price is $329, or $369 with the accessories
pack, which includes hardshell carry case,
HDMI lead, USB lead with attached power
supply, and a pop filter.
Dynamic Music:
(02) 9939 1299 or info@dynamicmusic.com.au
FREE SATELLITE or UAD-2 QUAD CARD
YOUR CHOICE OF FREE SATELLITE QUAD OR UAD-2 QUAD IF YOU BUY A 4-710d MIC PREAMP

RRP
$
2,999
4-710d features:
Four TEC Award-winning 710 Twin-Finity microphone/line preamps, each featuring:
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REE!
Dual-path 285-volt Class-A tube and transimpedance solid-state preamps PURCHASE
Phase-aligned tone-blending of tube and solid state circuits, creamy to crunchy RETAIL VALUE EACH OF
4-710d
Newly designed 1176-style compression circuit per preamp channel
JFET Direct Input with 2.2M ultra Hi-Z impedance w/auto input override
$
1,299
Monolithic balanced output stage
UAD-2 Satellite QUAD features: Satellite QUAD
External Firewire 800 and 400 DSP accelerator unit
Includes Analog Classics plug-in bundle, featuring LA-2A Classic Audio Leveler, 1176LN /
1176SE Classic Limiting Amplifiers, Pultec EQP-1A and Realverb Pro plug-ins.
High-bandwidth Firewire DSP Accelerator with four Analog Devices SHARC processors
UAD-2QUAD card features: UAD-2 QUAD

Flagship quad-processor DSP Accelerator Card for UAD Powered Plug-Ins on Mac or PC
Includes Analog Classics plug-in bundle, featuring LA-2A Classic Audio Leveler,
1176LN/1176SE Classic Limiting Amplifiers, Pultec EQP-1A and Realverb Pro plug-ins. Offered while stocks last. Find your nearest UA dealer
High-bandwidth PCIe card w/ (4) Analog Devices SHARC floating-point processors at: www.cmi.com.au

Re-thinking the DJ Mixer

TRAKTOR KONTROL Z2 is the worlds first 2+2 DJ control mixer. The Z2 connects with
controllers, turntables and DJ CD players for seamless TRAKTOR integration across
diverse DJ setups. All-new Macro FX and Flux Mode expand your creative arsenal,
while the beefy aircraft-grade aluminum chassis and Innofaders assure rock-solid
dependability on any stage, in any club. Welcome to the future of mixing.

Features:
2+2 channel DJ mixer/controller and 24-bit audio interface
Best-in-class, tour-safe build quality with robust, aircraft-grade
aluminium chassis
Ergonomic industry-standard layout with 3-band EQ plus dedicated filters
per channel
Precision-designed, high-end knobs and buttons, plus premium faders
by Innofader
Multi-colored Remix Deck/cue point trigger buttons and LED loop display
Built-in powered USB hub* for 2 add-on DJ controllers such as
TRAKTOR KONTROL F1 or TRAKTOR KONTROL X1
Instant plug-and-play setup, with full TRAKTOR SCRATCH PRO 2.5 software** and timecode
media included
One-knob Macro FX for effortlessly expressive sound manipulation using
the comprehensive array of TRAKTOR effects
Innovative Flux Mode for maximum creativity and point-perfect timing Distributed by CMI Music & Audio
Lossless post-fader effects using the industry-leading TRAKTOR effects suite www.cmi.com.au

AT 25
SOFTWARE NEWS

HOMING IN ON CUBASE 7 THE EXTRAS IN X2

Steinberg has announced Cubase 7 and Cubase Artist 7 and since the DAW
has advanced a whole number (rather than the last 6.5 release) this is, as youd
expect, a major update. Top of the feature list is a completely new mixer, plus
brand-new tools for composing, more effects, more content and countless
workflow enhancements. The new MixConsole mixer is promising never-
before-seen transparency, fidelity, and functionality. And a new channel
strip module is designed to avoid opening a bunch of separate plug-ins for a
basic track sound. Built into a single plug-in you get high and low-pass filters,
noise gate, the four-band StudioEQ, three compressors, a spectrum analyser,
tube/tape saturation, a brickwall limiter, maximiser plus 150 factory presets
created by US producer Allen Morgan that lot should keep you busy for a
while. Next is Chord Track and Chord Assistant, taking all the hard work out of
harmony structures and chord progressions. You also get Voxengos studio-
grade 64-band spline CurveEQ, EBU R128 standard compliant loudness
metering and the latest version of MixConvert for individual down-mixes in
unmatched quality. The full version in Australia is $599, with upgrade prices
and Artist versions available too.
Yamaha Music Australia:
(03) 9693 5111 or www.yamahamusic.com.au
Regular as clockwork, Cakewalk has released a Sonar upgrade. Sonar
continues to add to the list of features each time usually without giving any
the chop and its starting to run off the bottom of the page. However, bucking
that trend, a lite version of Guitar Rig has been replaced with Overlouds TH2
guitar emulator only available in the Producers Edition though. Another
new contribution from Overloud is its Breverb plug-in, which has a range of
vintage and modern reverb sounds. An updated Matrix View is designed for
live performances, triggering samples instantly and the Arrange window now
has dedicated Automation Lanes instead of overlaid envelopes. Something
that will really get tongues wagging is a Console Emulation feature. These
are three channel modes that can be applied to either individual tracks or
buses and promise to faithfully mimic the sonic characteristics of three
famous British mixing consoles including the A Type Console which emulates
a revolutionary British console, of which only 13 consoles were ever built.
Well let you stick a fork in that. In all, Sonar X2 has over 100 new features or
tweaks and comes in three flavours of Essential ($109), Studio ($219) and
Producer ($549).
Roland:
(02) 9982 8266 or www.rolandcorp.com.au

Genelec has announced its SpeakerAngle
app is now available for Android devices
at GooglePlay, priced at USD$0.99. It
works on all Android smartphones and
tablets running OS 2.3 (Gingerbread) or
later and equipped with a gyroscope chip.
In other mobile news, an update to FL
Studio Mobile 2, the iOS version of the
DAW adds recording and editing audio
among other small tweaks. An Android
version is also on the way.
www.image-line.com.
Universal Audio has been doing
some work with its Windows 7, 64-bit
compatibility and with the release of its
UAD version 6.4 software announced
the availability of 64-bit UAD plug-in
support for Windows 7. Also, the UAD-2
Satellite FireWire DSP Accelerator is
now compatible with Windows 7 64-bit
edition operating systems, using a
qualified PCIe-to-FireWire 800 adapter
card. And finally, the Apollo audio
interface is now okay with Windows 7
64-bit edition operating systems, again
using a qualified PCIe-to-FireWire 800
adapter card. Mac 64-bit users arent
going to miss out. UAD is releasing a Mac
public beta of a driver package soon with
an official version not too far behind
obviously with any bugs ironed out.
Native Instruments has released the
5.8 update to its REAKTOR 5 virtual
instrument. The update has tweaks
to mouse operation and sample
management, but mostly addresses new
Open Sound Control (OSC) features. It
has also added another expansion pack
for Kontakt, Session Horns. A trombone,
tenor sax and two trumpets have been
sampled, as well as 170 playable phrases.
CMI: (03) 9315 2244 or
www.cmi.com.au
Propellerhead has released Radical Keys,
a new Rack Extension instrument for
Reason that faithfully recreates three
classic electromechanical keyboards
Rhodes, Pianet and Wurlitzer. Based
on the same Radical technology as
Propellerheads existing Radical Piano,
Radical Keys promises to go beyond
emulation by enabling users to sculpt
their own instruments from the originals.
Electric Factory: (03) 9474 1000
or www.elfa.com.au

AT 26
A TRIUMPH IN WAVE EDITING
We normally associate cost with quality, so with an introductory price tag
of just sixty bucks (on special from US$79.99) a lot of people will dismiss
Audiofile Engineerings Triumph software as simply not major league. However,
with some innovative features and a new collaboration with iZotope its well
Are your wireless mics
worth a closer look. Previously known as Wave Editor, Triumph is the sequel
application from Audiofile Engineering, which creates professional audio
software only for Mac OS X and iOS. Triumph has undergone a complete rethink ready for the
and rebuild to take advantage of the latest technologies Mac OS X has to
offer. Notably, Triumph features a unique and patented method for editing
audio called Layers. Its similar to image editing in technique, but is specifically Digital Dividend ?
tailored for audio. The Layers method is a means to create combinations of
sounds and (presumably, since its Photoshop-like) turn Layers on and off to
compare results. IZotopes involvement is that Triumph now includes iZotope
Restore and Restoration as well as the advanced iZotope MBIT+ and 64-bit
SRC options for disc burning. For US$60 you cant go wrong unless you dont
own a Mac. Not surprisingly you need to buy it online.
www.audiofile-engineering.com

OURS ARE !
By the end of 2014, all analogue TV transmitters will be turned
off and all digital TV transmitters will have changed frequency.

The band between 694 MHz and 820 MHz will be cleared of all
users so it can be used for mobile data services.

Check your wireless microphone systems now ! If they operate

between 694 MHz and 820 MHz you need to start planning to
operate between 520 MHz and 694 MHz before the end of 2014.
STUDIO ONE UP HALF A NOTCH
PreSonus has announced the release of Studio One 2.5, a major update to the
companys Studio One 2 DAW. Its a free update to Studio One 2 users adding
Make certain your systems are ready!
nearly 100 enhancements and features, as well as many bug fixes. All versions
of Studio One 2 have been updated, including Studio One Artist, Producer,
Professional, and Free. Although the update adds some entirely new features,
it mostly builds on existing Studio One 2 specialities, completing and enhancing
visit
functionality based on PreSonus original vision and on user feedback the
latter being a very active component with PreSonus priding itself on the high
level of interaction between the company and its users. Interestingly, Studio
Ones Ampire XT guitar simulator has been completely overhauled again after
ddready.com.au for more information
already getting serious attention for the Version 2 release proof again
that PreSonus listens to its users. In addition, all Studio One Producer and
Professional users can now download a free copy of Softubes Saturation Knob
plug-in provided as a Studio One Extension. Studio One Free isnt as limited
as youd expect and it can instantly be turned into a 30 day demo of the full
version reverting to S1 Free afterwards, if youre not tempted.
National Audio Systems:
1800 441 440 or www.nationalaudio.com.au

AT 27
 SOFTWARE NEWS
PLUG IN SHADOW HILLS
No one really demands that plug-ins designed to emulate specific pieces
of equipment be 100% accurate. Its simply not a realistic expectation, and
besides, plug-in versions are often an opportunity to chuck in an extra bypass
switch or slight tweak that the original didnt have. But the Shadow Hills
Mastering Compressor is a different kettle of compressed fish. Created by
Shadow Hills Industries mastermind Peter Reardon, the original device is a
bit of revered studio kit (five rack-spaces worth) never to be taken lightly.
If youre going to create a SHMC plug-in, youd better do it properly or not
at all. Shadow Hills Industries has announced its done just that, working in
partnership with Brainworx, releasing its hallmark mastering compressor
as a UAD Powered Plug-In. Priced at US$299 direct from UAD it requires a
UAD-2 DSP Accelerator Card or an Apollo interface and promises results
comparable to the real thing, which you can pick up for a mere $7000 or so.
All the switches, controls and parameters have been faithfully reproduced,
meaning there is the wealth of versatility and variable signal processing that
made the SHMC so renowned. If thats a little daunting for you, Peter Reardon
himself has written a collection of custom presets that come included with
the plug-in. You can download a 14-day demo from www.uaudio.com to hear
what all the fuss is about as long as you have the UAD hardware of course.
CMI:
(03) 9315 2244 or www.cmi.com.au

WAVES SEES REDD

If youve always wondered what it was like to record in Abbey Road studios
back in the 1960s with the likes of the Beatles and Pink Floyd walking
through the door, Waves Audio has come up with a way to bring you a step
closer to that experience except without the bands. Oh well, it still sounds
okay. Teaming up with Abbey Road Studios, Waves has developed its new
REDD console plug-ins. REDD consoles were custom-designed, built by and
named after Abbey Road Studios in-house Record Engineering Development
Department (REDD). Renowned for their EQ curves, extraordinary warmth
and lush stereo imagery and of course the mythology of the studio and the
era the REDD consoles enjoy a reputation that no other mixer can claim. To
bring them back to virtual life Waves has done its homework, meticulously
researching and recreating the unique colour, character and tonal complexity
of the original desks by accessing the REDD.17 still belonging to Abbey Road
Studios and the REDD.37 console now owned by Lenny Kravitz. The result
is REDD and theyre certainly not your normal channel strip kind of like a
history lesson and a plug-in rolled into one.
Check them out at www.waves.com and talk to Sound & Music about the
introductory price.
Sound & Music Distribution:
(03) 9555 8081 or www.sound-music.com

NOW WERE DE-MIXING

Unveilis a real-time,de-mixing based plug-in that allows attenuating or boosting
of reverb components within a mixed signal of any channel count,includingmono
sources, as well as modifying reverb characteristics. Additionally, Unveil
allows you to bring the key features of a recording into focus, or move them
to the background, by attenuating or boosting perceptionally less important
signal components. Perhaps Unveil is a way of settling arguments between
band members about who is actually pulling their weight? Run Unveil over a
final mixdown and see who gets shoved into the background, perceived as
unimportant Based on its proprietary, artificial intelligence-basedMAP(Mixed-
SignalAudioProcessing) technology, Unveil allows fixing previously unusable
location audio and dialogue, tightening up live music recordings, removing
reverb and mud from musical signals, as well as creative sound design. Zynaptiq
recently announced version 1.5 of Unveil, a free update adding VST, RTAS and
AAX support for both MacOS X and Windows systems, as well as several workflow
enhancements. Its not cheap at US$399 direct from www.zynaptiq.com.

AT 28
AT 29
LIVE NEWS
SOUNDS LIKE ring frame, is mounted in a front-
loaded configuration. On the rear side
DOUBLE-DUTCH a similar driver (except its 380mm
diameter) is mounted with a Flank-
Dutch audio systems developer
Venting port. This folded port design
Alcons Audio has released the
enables optimal reflex-breathing,
BC332, a self-contained, high-output
under minimal baffle dimensions,
cardioid subwoofer system for both
reducing destructive interference
permanent and portable ground-
between speaker and reflex-vent.
stacked applications. The BC332
The 2 x 4 system impedance caters
is designed to offer a directivity-
for optimal amplifier loading and the
controlled, high output, tight and
BC332 is powered and controlled
accurate sub-bass response, for
by the ALC amplified loudspeaker
low-frequency extension of any
controller. Through the integrated
Alcons pro-ribbon system. Using
processor, the ALC optimally drives
a front and rear located woofer
the BC332 with specific response
design, in combination with dedicated
optimisation, protection and hybrid
processing, the BC332 enables
filtering processing. If its all a bit
selectable cardioid low-frequency
double-Dutch dont worry, theres an
pattern control and rear rejection
ALC preset library and more info at
(up to 18dB), without the need for
www.alconsaudio.com.
additional cabinets. On the front
Loud & Clear Sales:
side, one 450mm long-excursion (02) 9439 9723 or
woofer with a 100mm voice-coil and www.loudandclearsales.com.au
a double-spider and demodulation

AWARD WINNING
SILENCE GOES LIVE
Cedars original dialogue noise suppressor,
the CEDAR DNS, was designed for off-
line studio use and quickly found its way
into many post-production facilities and
even won an Academy Award yes, the
Academy hands out gongs for all sorts
of things that never get a mention in the
tabloids. A lot of DNS1000s ended up
on location carts despite it never being
intended for live use. Cedar has fixed that
by announcing the DNS 8 Live. With eight
simultaneous channels of dialogue noise
suppression, the DNS 8 Live hosts a new
DNS algorithm with a simplified 2-knob
approach as well as a detailed editing
mode that offers more control. It promises
near-zero latency, making it suitable
for all live situations, not just live-to-air
broadcasting. Cedar gave it all some
thought. Recognising that many people
will want to use it where theres no ready
access to mains power, the DNS 8 Live
has a standard 4-pin 12VDC input. And
catering to the ubiquitous iPad, with the
DNS 8 RC software due for release later
in the year, the DNS 8 Live will work with
almost any web browser. The DNS 8 Live
itself is available now.
CDA Professional Audio:
(02) 9330 1750 or www.cda-proaudio.com

Allen & Heath has released the latest
version of its iLive firmware, V1.9,
featuring a range of enhancements
including new GEQ, Dynamic EQ and
Multi-Band compressor emulations,
increased MIDI control options, and
improvements to the functionality in the
supporting iLive Editor software and
MixPad app. A complete list of fixes and
enhancements can be found at
www.allen-heath.com.
Technical Audio Group:
(02) 9519 0900 or info@tag.com.au
Electro-Voice happily admits that the
ZX1-Sub was conceived primarily for
configurations involving EVID, ZX1 and
EVU systems, but of course wont stop
you pairing it with loudspeakers from
other manufacturers. The ZX1-Sub
is passive with a 300mm EVS-12S
woofer operating in the 42-200Hz (-10
dB) frequency range with a frequency
response of 53-125Hz (-3 dB). Its
designed for portable or permanent rigs.
Bosch Communication Systems:
(02) 9683 4572 or
www.boschcommunications.com.au
Holophone, a company that specialise
in multi-channel surround microphone
technology, is introducing a new line
of single-channel stage and studio
microphones it claims will take on the
big names in the industry and slap some
life into todays stagnant market of
monotonous, generic microphones. The
new Super C handheld supercardioid
condenser is the first in a new line of
customisable performance mics with a
design that allows the user to quickly
alter the mics appearance on the fly.
www.holophone.com
Martin Audio has appointed Chris
Pyne, one of the worlds leading sound
engineers and, were not shy to
point out, a very familiar figure to our
AudioTechnology pages as its new
technical support specialist for the
Asia Pacific region (APAC). Chris joins
the Martin Audio technical application
support team, which already includes
Andy Davies and his counterpart Jim
Jorgensen in the United States.

AT 30
NOW ITS KLARK TEKNIKS TURN
Weve recently seen the release of Behringers X32 digital mixing console,
which was developed together with Midas. Now Behringer has announced a
major collaboration with another of its Music Group cohorts, Klark Teknik,
with the arrival of its Xenyx QX series mixers. The eight new models feature
custom-designed effects engines from Klark Teknik with 32 studio-grade
presets, dual addressable parameters, tap function and storable user settings,
plus wireless-ready integration with Behringers upcoming ULM Series
digital wireless microphones. With configurations ranging from 10 to 24
inputs, QX Series mixers feature Behringers Xenyx mic preamps, one-knob
mono channel compressors, built-in USB/audio interface, 48V phantom power
and British 3-band EQs. Xenyx QX Series USB mixers are suited for all live
sound, recording and podcasting applications and, in Behringers own words,
Are affordable even for those on a tight budget. As an added bonus, a free
recording/editing software download is available from Behringer turning any
Mac or PC computer into a complete audio workstation.
Galactic Music:
(08) 9204 7555 or www.galacticmusic.com.au
FLAT FREQUENCY RESPONSE
AKG has been thinking with its feet. As an alternative approach to the
typical antenna design normally applied to wireless microphones and
in-ear monitoring systems basically festooning a stage with antennae
that need a clear line of sight AKGs Floorpad is placed on the floor.
Hard-wearing, its capable of being hidden under a stage, carpeting or
podiums with a high-quality RF link to wireless audio devices. Floorpad
is connected to microphone receivers or in-ear monitor transmitters via
low-loss coaxial cable and placed in the area of operation. The concept
allows Floorpad to sacrifice some sensitivity and range with performers
practically sitting on top of it, which reduces the risk of interference from
other devices nearby. The Floorpad is a round, flat rubberised package
approximately 500mm in diameter by 6mm thick with a 10-foot RG316
coaxial tail terminated with a female BNC. The device has a hemispherical
radiation pattern, circular polarisation and a deliberate reduction in
sensitivity across its 470-740MHz frequency range. Between gigs you
can disconnect the cable, take it to the local park and throw it for your
dog no, not really. Frisbees are a bit cheaper. The Floorpad is due early
next year with a RRP in Australia of $799.
Audio Products Group:
(02) 9578 0137 or www.audioproducts.com.au

TRADE UP TO SHURE
PSM 1000/900 WIRELESS
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Shure PSM 400

Trade up to Shures new Personal Stereo Monitors, PSM 1000 and PSM 900 and update your in ears Shure PSM 600
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AT 31
SPACE TIME CONCERTO
The Space Time Concerto competition, run by the
University of Newcastle, is a mash-up of history and
innovation. Entrants can pick their poison, either
working with more traditional music from the Romantic
and Modern/Postmodern eras, or creating something
entirely new with an emphasis on performance,
visualisation and digital resources. Why Space Time?
Well, music exists in time, and sounds out in a space.
So, it gives the innovation category something to stew
on when theyre plotting their performance, whether
it be a remote satellite link-up jam or linking up with
a light sculpture. Entrants competed for $50,000 in
prizes, and AT talked with two entrants who both took
home part of the $10,000 Vice Chancellors Prize.

Concerto For Light Sculpture

By Robert Jarvis
Robert Jarvis entry into the innovation category comprises a light
sculpture driven by music he creates on a Monome and Macbook Pro. The
combination of light and music is something Jarvis has had a long interest
in, saying, You get something thats greater than the sum of the parts.
Robert walked AT through his setup: Im using a Monome 128 and
a Macbook Pro. The Monome is running into MAX/MSP 6 where its
configured for playing as a musical instrument as well as controlling
certain aspects of the video. The Monome is set out to play notes with
the X axis moving across in semitones and the Y axis rising in fourths.
This makes it very similar to play to a guitar or bass. The MAX patch also
contains two VSTs Togu Audio Lines Noizemaker which is set up as a
warm pad with slow vibrato and AAS Chromaphone set up as a plucked
string modeller. The final part of the MAX patch takes the Monomes input
and converts it to OSC to control the video.
On the video side of things Im using VDMX loaded with video prepared in
After Effects.VDMX
after effects. VDMXreadsreadsOSC
OSCfrom fromthe
theMonome
Monometo totrigger
triggerevents
eventson
onthe
the
sculpture.VDMX is piped into Mad Mapper via Syphon where its mapped
to the sculpture. The video output is sent through a Triplehead2go out to
two short-throw projectors, one for each sculpture.
His nextplan
He next project involves
involves work work
withwith a 13-piece
a 13-piece choir
choir in Melbourne,
in Melbourne, where
where each
each singers
singers microphone
microphone willinto
will run runainto a laptop,
laptop, generate
generate OSC messages
OSC messages and
and control
control its own
its own lightlight sculpture
sculpture or video
or video projection
projection so person
so the the person
composing
composing
the music canthealso
music can alsothe
compose compose
imagery.the imagery.

Transposed Dekany
By Greg Schiemer
I was first introduced to Gamelan in junior school in a vain attempt to
incorporate world music. While most of the complexities of rhythm, timing
and structure were completely lost on our group of pint-sized musicians,
it was fun to bang along together. Greg Schiemers Satellite Gamelan taps
into Gamelans emphasis on the collaborative aspect of making music. But
using iPhones as pocket synthesisers.
The piece he devised is intended to be played across four different
locations. In the actual concert it was Linz in Austria, Beijing, Newcastle
and Singapore.
The sounds hes programmed are recreations some of the 580 software
instruments created by Frenchman Jean-Claude Risset at Bell Labs in the
60s: one that implements a chorused effect, and synthesiser bells.
The piece consists of 15 different states that the iPhones run through
together, each running 32 seconds. Four colours, yellow, magenta, blue
and green, represent the different venues, and whether or not it appears in
that state dictates whether the venue should be playing its part or not.
In each venue are 16 musicians, each with a phone, and the sound of the
phones is captured with ambience by a microphone. The musicians play
along by either tapping or shaking the phone.
The 15 states go through all the possible combinations of the four venues,
never repeating in the sequence, with the tenth state representing the
climax of all four venues playing at once.

AT 32
AT 33
 FEATURE
BUILDING AN EMPIRE
Uli Behringer now owns Midas, Klark Teknik and
Turbosound. AT went to The Music Group Factory
to see the effects of this transition firsthand.
Story: Mark Davie
They only know how to build one way in
China: Up. The entire economic zone of
Guangdong is stacked layer upon layer to squeeze
every last drop out of the landscape. Even rural
townhouses are built vertically and left
freestanding, waiting for a neighbouring upshoot
to cover their exposed, featureless concrete sides.
Its no different at Ulis house, where Behringers
foundations are making way for more elaborate
designs as Uli builds on the reputations of Midas,
Klark Teknik, and imminently Turbosound, to
give Behringers facade a facelift.
Both the Midas and Klark Teknik badges
have already surfaced on Behringer consoles,
but the question on everybodys lips is: Will that
influence cut both ways?
Implied in that question is fear; fear for the
demise of much-loved audio brands, suspicion
of Behringers motives, and not being convinced
about the quality of Chinese manufacturing.
FAST FOLLOWER
In some ways, Behringer does have a history
of disrupting the futures of other brands. Its
unashamed fast follower business model has been
to take a product that already has a strong market
demand, then one-up them by producing it for
a cheaper price and usually with more features.
The constant mantra when talking to Behringer
is, Doubling the features at half the price means
four times the value. Which isnt a bad mission
statement, regardless of the brand.
Secondly, all of the competitors Behringer
managed to one-up have since moved their
AT 34
production to China its not where you
produce, but how you manage it. Theres no
magical set level of manufacturing quality in
China, it can be great, fluctuating, or incredibly
bad especially when you sub-contract.
THE IMPORTANCE OF CONTROL
Uli knows all too well the perils of sub-contracting
manufacture: Subcontractors here in China
dont think long-term. For them, its a deal today,
and not knowing if the customer will come back
tomorrow. When I first came to Hong Kong, I
met up with a sub contractor and asked him if he
could make something. He said, No problem. I
asked again, if he could make something else. No
problem, was his reply. It was fantastic, paradise,
I thought they could make gold the way he was
talking. They sent a prototype, and it was fantastic.
At that time, I put $150,000, which was all had
into it. The container arrived, and we opened the
package and my heart dropped, it was junk. It was
like a container full of bananas. We had 40 people
working for us at the time, and we had every
secretary, every cleaner, with a screwdriver in
hand to rework a full container. That was my first
experience, it almost killed the company.
The experience left a mark, and he immediately
relocated to Hong Kong to try and manage his
way through sub-contracting, till finally, over ten
years ago, he began manufacturing in China. If
you want quality, he says. You have to build it
yourself, or have so much power, like Apple or
Nike, that you can control the subcontractor.
THE REAL DEAL
One of the worst quality culprits was flat ribbon
cables. Cables in general are the single biggest
point of failure, with failure rates excessively high
for outsourced versions. These days The Music
Group makes all its own cables. Its not very sexy,
Uli said. And its not cheaper to do in-house
either, but its necessary if you dont want gear
flowing back. We bought specific machines to
align the connectors and the cables and apply a
very defined amount of force.
Fake semi-conductors was another problem. Sub
contractors would wipe out the surface of a lower
speed processor and restamp a higher speed on
it. So when you ran the processor at the speed
you thought it was intended for, it would burn
out. Now we buy components directly from the
manufacturers, said Uli, which is the beauty of
the volume game we have. We can buy stock from
Cirrus Logic, Texas Instruments, Analog Devices.
One bad product can wipe you out. Were not
nervous, but were very cautious.
THE RIGHT WAY UP
So what effect has Behringer had on Midas and
Klark Teknik? Well, lets start the other way round.
When Uli wanted to move much of Midas
manufacturing to China, the simple answer was,
No. You dont have what we need there. So he
asked them what they did need, which resulted
in a $20m-long shopping list, including pick and
place machines that rattle off collated components
faster than a machine gun, but with accuracy in
the points of a millimetre. There were plenty of
other improvements too; X-ray machines that
take the guess work out of solder joint quality,
(l-r) We all know pitch control is vital, but especially important when youre trying
to stick components into a circuit board at machine gun speeds; Uli checks out the
water tank in quality control; purple Midas circuit boards travel right alongside amber
Behringer boards.

dedicated production rooms for Midas Pro fader, 14-layer circuit board
production, machines dedicated to moving faders millions of times. And
its not just investment in Midas, at each station youll find amber Behringer
circuit boards right alongside the purple Midas boards as they go through
the same processes. Uli dipped into his pockets for processes Midas gear
wont see; new ovens for baking speaker cones, as well as automating a lot
more processes like applying glue which is likely to have some correlation
with Turbosound. Audica MICROseries - Style and Flexibility
As it stands, the Pro series, Midas most successful range of consoles, is
made solely in China, with the big boy, XL8, still made in Kidderminster,
Worcestershire in the UK. And the shift is paying off. While Bosch Audica Professional combines leading-edge design and acoustic
was losing millions a year holding onto Midas, The Music Group has engineering in flexible audio solutions for commercial background
turned it completely around, by doing the one thing that keeps a console music, corporate AV and audio communications.
manufacturer afloat selling loads of consoles. While Midas always had a
rich heritage, and a mountain of R&D, the failure to stimulate the market Applications include retail outlets, restaurants,
place was a killer. hotel public areas and guest rooms,
meeting rooms, museums and visitor
QUALITY EQUALS CONTROL centres.
Its hard to give a complete insight into the other side of the coin in a couple
of brief visits to the Music Group factory, but it seems like quality is high up
the checklist regardless. At the end of the line, consoles are left to power soak
on eight hour cycles, there are water resistance-testing tanks, heat-testing I thought the audio industry had already given us every option, until I saw and
ovens, RF chambers for EMC testing, component testing down to the last heard Audica Professional- MICROseries sets new standards for aesthetics and
resistor, heat mapping, a room for safety testing, teams of Chinese workers audio quality for background music
dedicated to prodding the buttons, and working the faders of each console
Kai Bckmann, Trius GmbH & Co. KG, Germany
before they make their way into a box, and testing stations on every line.
It cant all be attributed to Midas occupation, Ulis been steadily growing
The Music Groups manufacturing as a core competency. The stairwells are
lined with posters detailing updated manufacturing techniques, or line-
specific changes. And Chinese labour isnt as cheap as it used to be, with a
Call 1300 13 44 00 or
20% increase in wages year on year. These days, with so many manufacturing
visit www.audioproducts.com.au
jobs available, workers are free to pick and choose, with incredibly high staff
turnover rates often of 30%. The Music Group quotes its turnover rate as less
than 3% a year, which only adds to its level of quality control.

AT 35

One bad product can
wipe you out. Were not
nervous, but were very
cautious
PRICING CONVERSION
People will always ask how Behringer gets its
prices so low, and will they begin to cheapen
Midas too? Well, in a way, yes they will. The
quantity of components were buying is so
massive, that were obviously buying at very
different pricing, said Uli. For instance, we buy
our AD converters from Cirrus Logic directly
from the US, and were the second largest
customer after Apple. In the Behringer X32 we
have the CS5368 AD converter, which I believe
is one of the best. That component is also used in
Midas Pro 2 console. Before [the takeover] they
were paying $18 for each chip, and were paying
a fraction of that. We also have our own factory,
so we dont have to make a profit on the factory,
which gives us a 25% cost advantage.
AT 36
And we hedge. When the oil price is low, we
buy tonnes of granulate, which is what you use
to make plastic injected speaker cabinets, and
stock it in the warehouse. When youre a public
company, you cant do that anymore.
Its not to say that all Midas and Behringer
products are now the same. A simple example is
the pot shafts on the consoles: on a Midas console
theyre all metal, while on Behringer consoles,
theyre plastic. Another difference is in the
console fader systems. Both are made in-house,
but Midas uses a specifically-developed Pro fader,
of which they can only make a handful a day, but
is guaranteed to last one million moves.
THE ONLINE ONSLAUGHT
Thomann recently stopped publishing its failure
rate figures. Probably because it was too much for
some brands to handle. But as the biggest retailer
in Europe, its certainly got the sample size. In
early 2012, the three-year average failure rate for
Behringer was 0.74%, compared to some other
manufacturers registering as high as 3%. And
that was based on returns for product mostly
built before the $20m capital injection. Likely, it
would be lower now.
In the 20 years since Uli began manufacturing in
China, over 11.5 million consoles have gone out
through the gates. And a total of about 5 million
pieces annually. If youve got tens of millions of
product pieces out in the world, you have to get
it right, or youll have millions of pieces coming
back through the door. Confidence in a product
is usually shown in a warranty, and the tooling
1,000,000...1,000,001...
okay, thatll do, I think
these faders are ready for
prime time now.
up has given The Music Group confidence to give
three years across all ranges, and all price points.
Its part of a wider program that has seen a lot of
investment in customer service. The message is
that The Music Group has been growing faster
than it can keep up with, and now its trying to fix
the bad bits. With 25 people employed full time
to trawl forums and answer peoples concerns
online, you may have already had an interaction
with the new-look Music Group.
One of the common themes is a lack of servicing
when its required. Its an issue that will become
only more crucial as The Music Group moves
from fast follower to innovator. Walking
through their R&D department, there are some
bonafide game changers soon to hit the market.
But the new innovations must work, and be easily
serviced when they dont. The Music Group has
already set up new service centres in the UK and
Nevada as part of this underlying pledge.
AUSTRALIAN SOIL
In Australia, Galactic Music has just gone from
being the sole fulfilment partner to effectively
representing Behringer in full in Australia as of
December 21. It brings to an end the problematic
arrangements Behringer has had in the past.
Going from its own Australian distribution,
to Galactic being the fulfilment partner while
Behringer still had a small support and product
specialist team, to a more traditional distribution
arrangement, where the one distributor handles
all aspects. A one-stop shop is a good thing, and
Galactic has already made some changes in lieu
of this announcement. Firstly, having built their
reputation with the Kosmic stores in Western
Australia, Galactic is now opening a Melbourne
branch that will handle their products up the
Eastern seaboard. Also, effective January, all
Behringer products under $2000 will be replaced
under warranty, and there will be service centres
in every major city to handle everything else,
or in cases where it would be faster to repair
than replace.
Its interesting times for The Music Group. Its
no longer just Behringer, its a family. If Midas is
happy being in China. Shouldnt we be? Someone
once said of the Behringer factory, Its like a
Swiss factory on China soil. With the proposed
$50m plant in the vicinity of mountains and
water, Feng shui would say that Chinese soil
might just be the best place to be.
Freecall 1800 441 440
AT 37
 FEATURE

PLAYTIME
Coldplay cares. 50,000+ punters piled into Etihad stadium,
and they all enjoyed nearfield sound.
Story: Christopher Holder
Main Photo: Marty Philbey

AT 38
 If you mix gigs for fun or for a living,
heres a lifestyle to aspire to: Fly the world
in first-class luxury, stay in primo hotels, travel
with the band to stadium gigs, mix a bunch of
highly-professional musicians with the very best
gear available, wave goodbye to your tech team at
the end of the final encore, hop in the bands limo
to be wined and dined somewhere very pleasant
indeed and in another couple of days, repeat
as necessary.
You could say FOH engineer Dan Green is one
very lucky bastard.
But you might also acknowledge hes an
indispensable cog in the machine that keeps the
worlds biggest touring band purring. At least,
thats clearly what Coldplay must be thinking.
After working briefly with the band on the
recording of X&Y, Dan has been involved in
building Coldplays studio in North London,
and remained on the recording team for Viva la
Vida and Mylo Xyloto. At this level its unusual for
someone in Dans position to occupy pivotal roles
in the studio and on the road, but it does provide
him with a unique insight into how best to get
50,000 people in a venue like Etihad Stadium,
Melbourne, rocking.
I rang Dan the morning after, at his deluxo
hotel in Sydney (he and the band flew back to
Sydney after the concert in a private jet) for a
chat. I guess I was imagining him on a balcony
overlooking an opalescent harbour, sipping
on a Nespresso and picking at a fruit platter
probably in a white hotel robe. I started by asking
him how the studio and live disciplines influence
each other on a tour like this:
COLD CALL
Dan Green: We have live performance on our
minds right from when a song is taking shape in
the studio.
AT: To the extent of constraining some of your
studio production so it would translate well live?
DG: Exactly. You dont want to cram too many
elements into a song when youre playing it live.
Were performing in stadiums and arenas with
huge reverb times, which means youve got to
work hard to ensure the vocals and key elements
shine through. I tend to just stick to the core
elements of a song, and Im not so particular
about including all the subtle atmospherics.
Which doesnt mean theres no detail or subtlety.
For example, Jonny [Buckland, guitars] has a lot
of little melodies that weave around the vocals, so
Ive got to make sure that people can appreciate
those parts. But ultimately, its about giving
the audience what it needs to sing along, and
providing a solid bass and drum sound to keep
the momentum.
AT: Are you able to borrow much from the
studio mic cabinet on tour?
DG: A few bits and bobs, but the demands are
very, very different on the road. In the studio,
your mic choice can be all about character. But
in a live context youre after mics that reproduce
transients very clearly you need that front-
end bite on most sounds to cut through. I mean,
youre not going to stick up a Neumann U67
three metres above and behind the drumkit as a
room mic, for obvious reasons. So I tend to use
more dynamic microphones: SM57s on guitars
and a Shure Beta52 on the bass drum. And also
the Earthworks microphones which are really
good for drums. Theyre my close mics and from
there I get a sense of depth using reverb and
other plug-ins.
AT: You clearly like what the Earthworks mics
are doing.
DG: They cut through really nicely and they
preserve a lot of the front-end attack of the
sound, which is something you really need. In
stadiums and arenas you cant really have a sound
that has too much decay because the room has
so much decay anyway sharp and short wins
every time.
DINING OUT ON LUNCHBOX
AT: Im fascinated by your 500 series lunchboxes
at front of house. Whats going on there exactly?
DG: Anyone whos worked on a Midas XL4 will
remember how you really only needed to give it
some gain and push up the fader and you were
good to go. Now with digital consoles and as
happy as I am with the Digico SD7 you dont
get that, especially on drums.
In my search to rediscover that instant analogue
sound I began to play around with effects pedal-
style boxes, but they were a bit flakey. On the
other hand, Ive always found Radial gear to be
super-reliable. When it came out with the 500
series Workhouse, I tried out a few different
pres, and settled on eight modules of Neve 1073
(which work really well on Chriss SM58), four
of the Helios Type 69-500 EQs (I love what the
Helios high/mids do to the guitars) and four
Shadow Hills Mono GAMA mic pres.
If anything does go awry with those, theres a
macro on my SD7 thatll instantly flick back to
the preamps on the SD stage rack.
CH: So you can easily A/B the two sources and
hear the difference?
DG: I can, and the difference is just incredible.
The level is the same but the depth of the sonic
image is quite different. I think their impact is
cumulative. If you had one or two 1073s I dont
think youd hear much of a difference.
AT: Are you concerned that if youre using
analogue preamps and/or outboard routing
in and out of the SD7 youll get a bit of
phase smear?
DG: I had a few concerns on that front with
the drums. What Im doing is using Waves
MultiRack [live sound plug-in platform] where
Ive made a dummy plug-in group and I can
send every drum-related channel to that group.
So regardless of whether that drum element is
sourced from an analogue mic pre or a digital
plug-in, it becomes aligned. Ive also done that
with other groups of instruments that need to be
phase-aligned, and I think that sorts out any kind
of latency issues.
AT 39
FOH Engineer Dan Green
(left) with the technical
mastermind of the tour
Tony Smith. Photo by
Brian Petersen.
AT: Can you tell me a little more about the Waves
MultiRack setup?
DG: Well, take, for example, my kick drum sound.
Ive got three kick drum channels. Ill do a bit
of basic kick EQing or processing on the SD7s
console channel, Ill route those to a group and
process the three channels together. In the Waves
MultiRack, as a group, Ill apply a filter and then
that goes into an API compressor, and then into
an H EQ. By doing it that way grouping and
processing those kick channels together it
helps glue the sound together a little more. Which
means if I want a bit more click on my bass drum,
rather than EQ it Ill push up the more clicky
microphone which then doesnt affect the way it
fits with all the processing. To me this approach
sounds nicer than EQing it in isolation. Then Ill
save that clickier kick drum submix as a snapshot
for songs where the bass drum needs to cut
through some more.
BOARD & PA
AT: You touched on using the Digico SD7. Hows
it working out?
DG: Ive had it since the start of this tour. Prior
to that I was using an Avid Venue and we just
ran out of channels. The SD7 gave us the ability
to handle all of the channels and it has enough
buses such that we can set up mix stems for the
broadcast trucks when we need to preferable
to giving them 128 channels, which was just too
complicated. For example, going back to my three
channels of kick drum, I can simplify that to one
channel for the OB truck.
AT 40
(Right) The rendition of Viva la Vida sees drummer
Will Champion cracking an old church bell. The bell is
effectively a prop. Inside, a trigger sends MIDI to the main
keyboard rack. The previous two triggers were proving
too sensitive, re-triggering as the bell resonated.
AT: Ive never seen so many speakers in the air at
Etihad Stadium. Theres certainly no sense of the
band demanding a bare minimum approach.
DG: Were lucky that the band is up for doing
what it takes. Basically they leave that to myself
and Tony Smith [system tech] to get the system
design we need.
AT: How long have you been using the
d&b J Series?
DG: We used them on the Viva tour prior to this
one. I just found them to be a line array that has
character. I found V-DOSC, and other recent
line arrays, are a bit too clean for this band. Take
the drums, for example, you wont hear the crack
youll get from the J theres a pleasant harmonic
distortion there that you wont get from V-DOSC
or the like. Saying that, V-DOSC will be perfect
for its own thing, but for this particular tour its
the J sound that Im after. The J Sub and Infrasub
are also great reasons to go with d&b.
AT: I noticed the sub bass wasnt oppressively high
in your mixes which made for a nice change.
DG: When youre mixing in stadiums its easy to
be personally impressed by bass. Its easy to just
think, oh Im really enjoying the bass. But a lot of
people find it distracting if the bass drum is really
pounding it starts to become annoying after an
hour-and-a-half. At dance events? Sure. But with
Coldplay, we dont want it to be physical, you dont
want it to be poking out, you just want it to be a
balanced part of the mix as a whole.

Its a big rig that requires plenty of power. Seventeen d&b D12 amp racks power one
side of the FOH PA all the subs included. Thats 51 amps in total (three D12s per rack)
or 102 amp channels. Delay and filtering is performed in the amps DSP, via remote
control from FOH. The power requirements for a show like this are considerable: 200
amps, three-phase a side. Overall, thats 400 Amps a leg in full show mode.
Jonny Bucklands pedalboard is a two-man
lift. Meanwhile, the rack (which is replicated
for redundancys sake) packs his wireless
receivers, TC2290 delays, Line6 processing
and an Eventide Harmonizer. The Fender
amps are serviced by Shure SM57s, with a
coincident Royer SF121 ribbon on one cab.
VOCAL PLAY
AT: Could you run me through Chris Martins
vocal chain?
DG: It starts with a Shure SM58 radio mic which
he just loves singing into the sound and the
weight is just right for him. It goes to the Neve
1073 500 series module, and into a channel on
the SD7. Then I just use a little bit of channel EQ
to clean up the low end, to avoid pumping the
compressor unnecessarily the stage volume is
blisteringly loud up there from PA spill, so theres
always going to be some low-end filtering. And
then it goes into one of the Waves Puigchild 660
plug-ins. From there, into a Waves H EQ for
some general EQing. I really like that EQ for its
visual feedback the spectrum analyser is really
handy to quickly pinpoint any frequencies that
are poking out or not quite right. Then it finishes
with the Waves C6 multiband compressor, which
is the most incredible plug-in. I really rely on
the C6 for the sound of Chriss voice because
when hes getting into his low register, his voice
is very bassy. But I find if I take some of those
overpowering low frequencies out with a regular
EQ, when he goes up to his falsetto voice, it
sounds a bit thin. With the C6, because its a
dynamic EQ, as soon as he hits his falsetto voice,
all of those rich lows return. Effects-wise, Ive got
an old TC 2290 delay which is MIDId up to be
part of my snapshot automation. I really like it
because its hands-on. Saying that, after its set up
the only control I touch is the tap tempo button.
Finally, I have a Bricasti M7 reverb, which I
prefer to a Lexicon for its character.
ultimately, its about
giving the audience what
it needs to sing along,
and providing a solid
bass and drum sound to
keep the momentum
Aussies, Josh De Jong and Conor
Dunne, have followed the sun
in the last year or two. After
the summer season in Australia
working at JPJ they knocked
on the door of Wigwam in the
UK. Before too long they found
themselves divvying up duties
as Crew Chief (Conor, right) and
Head of PA (Josh) for the current
Coldplay tour.
TAKING AUDIO SERIOUSLY
Coldplay takes its live sound seriously. Its clear that
no expense is spared to ensure that a) everyone in
the entire venue experiences first-class sound, and b)
nothing short of a meteor strike will put a stop to the
show. Theres dual redundancy up the wahzoo two
Digico SD7s at front of house is one very visible
manifestation of this, but youll find doppelgangers
everywhere.
Tony Smith is the technical mastermind of the audio.
Hes pulled together an interesting PA design with d&b
J series at its heart all supplied by JPJ. Hes flown
10 J Subs in behind the main J Line hang (20 deep)
and rotated the subs some 30 away from centre to
help push the low end into the stands, and reduce the
power alley syndrome of bass collecting and summing
in front of the stage. Not to say theres any lack of
low-end firepower on the ground. Tony Smith combines
J Subs and 3 x 21-inch Infrasubs along the stage,
arcing and splaying them, such that each is specifically
delayed to bend the image around covering some
60 of the audience. The subs were all stepped at
intervals based on calculations from d&bs ArrayCalc
modelling software.
The Infrasubs are brand new off the boat, extend down
to 20Hz and give the lows the extra oomph required.
Certainly JPJ director, Bruce Johnston, liked what he
was hearing, as he pulled out the chequebook and
added them to his inventory.
An array of d&b V Series were used as a side hang with
Q Series as infill. Delay towers ensure punters are
feeling the love downfield.
Bruce also reckons its the first time hes seen any
touring band going to the effort of flying a delay ring to
cover the Etihad Stadium bleachers. With what must
be every J Line box in the country employed on the gig, a
call went out to Novatech Productions, which sub-hired
its KUDO inventory for the purpose. Each of the nine
clusters packed six KUDO elements which were hung
high in the stands. It was a tall order that would have
been very welcome for those in the nosebleed seats.
AT 41

Ultimately, its about
giving the audience what
it needs to sing along,
and providing a solid
bass and drum sound to
keep the momentum
AT: And is it much of a challenge when Chris is
running around 20 metres in front of a PA?
DG: No because of the way Tony has zoned it and
designed the system, we rarely have any problems
with feedback. We know what hes going to do and
weve planned in advance for that. And Chris is
such a consistent singer and gives out such a good
level, its not really a problem.
BE PREPARED
AT: Any advice for the next time Ive got a
stadium gig on for 60,000 people?
DG: When the stakes are high, the most
important thing is pre-production the most
important thing. I really get involved on a band
level. For example, Jonny and I sat down and
meticulously planned his guitar rig before we even
got on stage. So from pre-production stage we
had everything ready to go. Get pre-production
right, then by the time the band steps on stage
theyll be supremely confident in their sound,
and as the engineer youll simply be polishing the
sound. Lets not forget, when youre getting ready
for that first big concert, there are a million other
AT 42
Dan Greens two Radial
Workhorses pack a very tasty
array of Neve 1073s (which
work really well on Chriss
SM58), Helios Type 69-500
EQs (I love what the Helios
high/mids do to the guitars)
and Shadow Hills Mono GAMA
mic pres.
Dan Green prefers the
Bricasti reverb flavour over
a traditional Lexicon 480L
or even the 960 he used
previously. And in the spirit
of everything on tour having
a spare, there are two M7s
just in case.
distractions youre not really going to get a
great deal of time to work on the sound with the
band at that point.
So my advice is to make the most of your
rehearsal time: getting your input levels right,
making the right mic choices and experimenting
with mic positions.
AT: All in the preparation then?
DG: Yeah, its all in the preparation. Getting
things right on a band level, before youre even
mixing. Another huge thing as well is virtual
playback. Having a ProTools rig is just amazing
because you can stick your headphones on the day
after and really hone in on the detail you might
miss in the middle of a concert.
Ill also take notes as a shows happening so when
I come back to it Ive got a list of things I want
to tweak I just play it back from my ProTools The drum mics are an Earthworks love-in. Dan Green:
rig and update my snapshots. Even just prior to The transient response of these microphones is
the gig when the support act is changing over, Ill
incredible. Before, I used to rely on transient enhancing
plug-ins to get a similar sound, now its all from
be getting into my playback mode and listening theSR40overheads. One of the other benefits of the
through my headphones its never too late for
newDP30/Cperiscope microphones are the rugged
flexible arms, this gives me options on placement.
some 11th hour fine-tuning.
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AT 43
 FEATURE

GOOD
BUZZ
Radioheads FOH engineer Jim Warren
turns in a dynamic performance.
Story: Mark Davie
Photos: Marty Philbey

When you lay your head on But the superlative reports were
the pillow after a great gig, you well-founded, and it was impossible
usually have two types of buzz. The not to catch up with Radioheads
first is good: an electric satisfaction engineer, Jim Warren, and ask the
of having shared an enlightened long-time mixer how he pulls it off
musical moment; having been these days.
there; touchy-feely moments to stuff
UPS & DOWNS OF LIVE MIXING
in the memory bank. The second is
Mark Davie: One of the striking
bad: a gentle hum that slows your
things about the show was after a
descent into sleep as the early stages
couple of hours with no ear-plugs
of tinnitus set in. You usually have to
you could walk away without any
take the good with the bad, or stick
ringing in your ears. Is it purely
your earplugs in and shut out half
about level or something more
the moment.
than that?
Radiohead live was all good, no bad.
Jim Warren: One of the biggest
Bafflingly so. Here was a band, in an
things with Radiohead is theyre
arena, with enough PA to scare the
very dynamic, which is a huge
neighbours, and no bad buzz. And
help for not mixing loud. Theres
before you go saying, Radiohead are
plenty of parts where it comes
soft anyway. Listen to Myxomatosis
right down so you get the impact
on Hail To The Thief, and imagine
and excitement of the next surge
two drummers, two analogue bass
in volume, even though its only as
synths, two guitars and mega vocals,
loud as it was earlier on. You dont
performed like a maniacally heavy
have an ever-increasing volume.
club jam through an arena PA. Not
light stuff. Ever since I started mixing Ive
always tended to mix quieter than
In the week leading up to the
a lot of other people. When I was a
Melbourne show wed heard an
young lad I would mix the opening
entirely different buzz, about how
acts. Quite often Id worked with the
good the show sounded. But wed
band in the studio and knew their
already committed to covering
music pretty intimately so Id mix it
Coldplay, having covered Radiohead
accordingly. Then the headline band
the last time they were out. So we
would come on stage and it would
left it at that.

AT 44
 be like a volcano explosion and everybody would
go nuts. And Id be thinking, Maybe this is what
I have to do? This is what people expect from a
live gig. Where everything shakes your chest and
blisters your ears.
Ive been mixing this lot from back when we were
in little clubs 20 years ago now, and they lend
themselves to being mixed at a reasonable level.
Plus, he can actually sing, so it pays to be able to
The louder you go, the hear the vocals. Also, its quite complex music,
harder it is to hear and the louder you go, the harder it is to hear
everything thats going on. The people that come
everything thats going on to see them seem to appreciate the fact they can
listen to it and hear everything, yet not go away
with their ears ringing. So its self-perpetuating.
I like to see people with earplugs in at the start
of the show, getting two or three songs into it,
taking their earplugs out and this look coming
across their face of, Oh, thats okay! It does strike
me as odd that after 50 years of live rock music
its almost accepted that if you go to watch a live
band you need to wear earplugs.
MD: So did you end up differentiating your live
mixes from the studio work?
JW: When you do a studio recording it has to
work on everything from the tiniest speaker to
a club system to going on the radio, and you
therefore tend to make a lot of compromises.
Live music is just about the only place where
dynamics exist because you can control them
while in the same listening environment as the
listener. Quite often people go and listen to the
records and come back and say, It sounds so
small on the record. I cant believe how powerful
it sounds when its live.
As much as Id like to say, Yeah, well thats
my powerful mix. Its because its happening
right in front of you and youre wrapped up as a
part of it. If you were to take that mix away and
listen to it on your laptop, it will come across
completely differently and you might start
making those compromises again to make it
work on the laptop.
What I enjoy most about live mixing is certainly
the spontaneity of it and also that youre there
with the audience listening to it at the same time,
so you can be happy with what youre hearing at
that time rather than having to try and project
that into 20 different listening environments over
five different media.
DOUBLE DRUM TAKE
Probably the biggest change for Warren this tour
has been the addition of a second bald drummer,
Clive Deamer, to the lineup. He and Phil Selway
lay down some incredibly complex rhythms, and
at times both guitarists Ed OBrien and Jonny
Greenwood, join in the fun on their own concert
toms. Funnily enough, Warren had just come off
a tour with Arcade Fire, who arent shy of a little
double drummer action. So he was well prepared
to take on the task.
JW: My take on two drummers is always to try
and find differences between the two drum kits
and highlight them to get some sort of definition
between the kits. Because Radiohead plays a
range of songs from full-on loud, rock styles to
stuff thats basically jazz, Phils drum kit has never
been a pure rock kit. Ive always got him to leave
plenty of life in it. So when we started rehearsals
at the beginning of the year, I assumed that
Clives would be the rock kit, and Phils would
stay as it was and be the jazz kit. As soon as I
heard Clives kit I realised that wasnt the case
his is completely jazz and tends to be more funky
and crazy sounding so I went along that road.
I do a little panning, though not too much
because it starts to get a bit weird in arenas.
I essentially mic up both kits the same way. It
wasnt necessarily an artistic decision, more a
practical one. During the last 10 years theyve
always promised to simplify things. We started
off as a basic three guitars, drums, bass setup and
then they started adding in the keyboards, the
samplers, the Rhodes, the piano, and it quickly
became pretty big and unwieldy.
This time we started with a more simplified
setup, but then they added in everything that
theyd ever had before, and more. I said to them
in rehearsals, The absolute limit for channels
we can get into the stage boxes is 96, and were
already at 90. So be aware that if theres much
extra were going to have to leave something out.
Some people use 20 channels on a drum kit, but
I dont have 20 to use on each, so the miking
is pretty basic. Each kit is covered by eight or
nine faders, a couple of which will be stereo for
the electronic parts. For instance, we only have
one mic on the snare drum. I have done stuff
within the last few years where I used the top
and bottom snare in the traditional fashion, but
it always strikes me as being a bit of a bodge
trying to make a snare drum sound out of two
that dont sound like snare drums at all. Whereas
if you play around you can usually find a place to
get a good snare sound with one microphone.
I have this technique I started using with
Radiohead on one of their records. The drum
sounds were really funky and sounded like
they were recorded in someones bedroom.
Phil isnt a very hard hitter and that tends to
mean the cymbals are relatively loud compared
to the drums. You dont get much more volume
out of cymbals by hitting them harder, theyre
always loud.
So rather than using an overhead Id stick a mic
right in the middle of the kit and I was amazed
at what a fantastic sound you can get out of one
microphone, especially with a bit of compression
on it. Every now and then Ill pull that fader
out and be astonished by how little of my drum
sound is left if I just take one microphone out.
Its the drum sound, and you can add in what you
need to make toms a bit more meaty and things
like that that technique alone has made it.
I use different mics in that position, depending
on the style of the drummer and the sound of the
kit. The ones Im using at the moment are little
Audio-Technica ATM350 gooseneck cardioid
AT 45
mics that just clip onto the top of the kick drum.
The 6-inch long gooseneck takes it out in front of
the kick drum to where it sits right in the middle
of the kit, with almost equal space between the
kick, snare and two toms. And then I squash
it with a compressor to take care of the level
differences.
You get such good presence out of it. You can use
it on days that are a little darker and things arent
cutting through so well, you know that just a little
push on the fader will bring it alive, rather than
having to go to the EQs on every single piece.
Even within a song, just a little push on that will
really bring the drums forward in a section.
MD: Do you use any specific style of
compression on it?
JW: All my compressors are plug-ins and
Ive experimented with various ones, but Im
actually using the Waves V-Comp, their vintage
compressor. Its got a little bit of everything, and
some interesting adjustments on it.
You have to make all those decisions very early
on. People seem to imagine that you have all
the time in the world to muck around and
experiment with different mics. But the reality
is our monitor guy would have a heart attack if I
was turning up wanting to try a different mic on
things. Hes got to make it work instantly in who
knows how many mixes. And for monitors, its all
about stability and consistency. So things only get
AT 46
THE EGYPTIAN MAGICIAN
Jim calls his assistant tech, Sherif El Barbari, the
Egyptian Magician. Hes worked with a lot of assistant
techs, but despite all the protocols, the courses, he
reckons some just have a sixth sense of how things
should work the magician being one. Warren: A lot
of it just comes from experience in having seen the
same thing before and knowing whats worked and
what hasnt.
Heres the magicians spec for Radioheads arena tour,
which stays the same for most dates:
Both main hangs had 12 K1 with four DV-DOSC as
underhangs, complemented by eight K1-SB subs
flown side by side with the K1. Both side hangs used
nine V-DOSC with six DV-DOSC underhangs. On the
ground were 24 SB28 subs, three stacks of three high
each side and three double stacks in the centre, all in
a cardioid configuration. For nearfills they used four
ARCS each side, with four DV-DOSC as lipfills across
the front of the stage. There were three delay lines
made up of six KUDO, flown behind FOH in an LCR
configuration. Everything was powered by L-Acoustics
LA8 controllers, with three Dolby Lake Processors as
a front end to distribute and tune the system one
at FOH (8-in x 8-out Mesa EQ) and one each side of
the stage (4-in x 12-out aux), returns were AES via
Rocknet I/O and analogue via copper.
JW: We have a very strong relationship with
L-Acoustics, and when we were doing the shows in
France, we spent a lot of time with them talking about
where they go next with PA. Our biggest request was
trying to get the same control over the low end as
theyve already managed to achieve with the higher
frequencies. And Christian Heil, the guy who first
came up with the whole line array design, was basically
saying there is no answer!
Its a bunch of compromises. High frequencies pretty
much travel in straight lines, and you can pretty much
predict whats going to happen. You can take the venue
out of the equation and know youre putting the right
amount of energy in the right places. What happens
as soon as it has hit a wall or seats though becomes
almost too complicated to calculate, certainly on a
day-to-day basis.
So you try to get the PA up high and point it at places
where theres going to be people so youre minimising
the amount of reflection. You just have to deal with
whatever randomness youre left with.
But theres almost no controlling low frequencies. We
are using a cardioid-type sub arrangement, but every
day its almost a lottery down low. The only thing you
can do is generate low frequencies in that room and
see what happens. Theres almost no way you can look
at that beforehand and say what a given building is
going to do.
Time alignment is another compromise. You pick a
place to align those two sets of speakers to, then
you step 10 paces to the right or left and the time
alignment starts to go out. Theres a lot of science
involved in what system techs do, but theres also a lot
of art, a lot of feel.

changed if theres a major problem, otherwise you
just go with the stuff that you know.
And because that one mic has such a huge
impact on the sound of the whole drum kit, once
youve got it in there and working, to make any
major changes to say, the compressor, youve
got to change or revisit that in 30 to 40 different
snapshots. On my desk at the moment I think
Ive got 80 snapshots, sometimes more than one
per song.
ALWAYS SPACE FOR MORE ECHO
One addition Warren has made to his setup
since the start of the year isnt a superlative
vocal channel strip, or an outboard drum bus
compressor, but a humble Roland RE-20 Space
Echo guitar pedal that sits right on top of his
Venue console. For all the amazing creative
power that you get from having plug-ins on the
desk, they still lack that tactile response, said
Warren. With the pedal, I can just bang a tap
delay into something, and crank the feedback.
Finding your way to the correct page in a plug-
in can sometimes be more complicated than
actually performing those functions themselves.
It does the bulk of the spun-in vocal delays. It
makes you realise that you can make a particular
pot on a desk as multifunctional as you like, but
theres no substitute for having a machine that sits
there and does one thing well.
ACCIDENTAL SAVIOUR
MD: What are some of the biggest changes youve
made with Radiohead?
JW: Well the biggest thing is the digital desk.
Back in the good old days when there wasnt
such a thing as a live digital desk, I had a small
digital console that I used for effects returns. I
was using a Soundcraft desk that had snapshot
recall of a kind. It would at least allow you to
mute channels that werent in use. But even 10-12
years ago the bands channel count was verging
on the unmanageable.
And when the band introduced the samplers,
it added another 12 channels that I didnt have
room for on the analogue desk, so I put all those
on the digital desk too. It meant I was already
into mixing in snapshots so it was a fairly easy
transition.
Now I think of how different they are from song
to song, and the amount of work I can do by
just pressing a button and moving to the next
snapshot. I would have to mix very differently on
an analogue desk.
Ive been using the Venue for getting onto seven
years and Im very comfortable with it and can
work very fast, but if you were to give me a band
that Id never met before to mix that night in a
club, I would still prefer to be given an analogue
desk. The digital desks really only come into
their own when you have pre-production and
rehearsals, and time to program everything up.
What scares people about them is I could push
a button and it will pull all my faders down to
nothing. Even on this tour I think I managed
to do it once. I have a snapshot called The
Workshop, which is how the desk sits all day long
when were not using it, so it doesnt matter if
something gets accidentally pushed or nudged.
Ive managed to store that over a song. I recalled
the song halfway through the show and suddenly
watched all my faders drop to the bottom...
Youre trusting the machine to take a lot out of your
hands, so you have to be confident in your use of it
to not give yourself heart attacks.
LAYERED CHAOS
MD: Does the looping and layering ever get so out
of control that youre pulling your hair out?
JW: Yes. Thats part of the beauty of what they do.
Theres a lot of stuff they do that could be done a lot
more repetitively and a lot more dependably. Jonny
basically has an FM radio onstage that he fires into
all of his pedals.
In the lead-up to the show, his tech will get six
presets some classical music, some spoken word
come the gig, sometimes radio reception is so
bad that all you get is interference. In the past weve
floated the idea of having some sample backups, and
they always say no.
Recently, someone was asking one of the guys, Who
does the playback? And he replied, There isnt any.
Its all generated live. And its the way they want it to
be. Sometimes it creates problems and leads to a bit
of a disaster, but they just shrug their shoulders and
go, Oh well.
Sometimes its absolutely magical. They get away
with it because theyve managed to establish
themselves as a pretty successful live act and a bit
alternative about the way they do things. Their fans
realise that you have to take the rough with the
smooth. The magic only happens if the random
element is there.
Ive worked with bands where everything was
sampled along with backing tracks. Its reliable
and predictable from day to day, but with that
predictability you lose a bit of the creative spark.
AT 47
 TUTORIAL

E C O R D I N G
VE R
S

LI
S & D O N T
D O How to
c apture
that liv e
Story:
p e rforman
ce... ev ery tim
e!

Recording a live gig is a great excuse for studio folk to

get out of the control room, breathe some fresh air, and
mingle with the other side of the audio production team. It
combines the fundamentals of studio recording with the
rush of a live gig. There are no second takes here!
High quality live recordings are commonly broadcast on
the radio, streamed online, and released on CD and DVD;
whatever the final destination might be for your recording,
the goal should be to capture the event as completely, and
as clearly as possible. For me, this generally means going
beyond a stereo desk-tape.
The first thing you will need is access to all of the channels
being used on the stage.

SHARING
CHANNELS
Deciding how you will share channels with the
live sound crew usually depends on the make and
model of the mixing consoles, so obtaining this
information should always be your first port of
call when planning a live recording. Remember you are potentially creating more work for
the live sound crew, so always be as polite and helpful as you can! Double Micing
Often it will be necessary to use a combination of the following methods to get the channels
There are a lot of advantages in using your
you need, so keep a pile of different looms on hand!
own microphones and cables; independent
gain control and no need for splitters.
However, it is only practical to mic guitar
Direct Outputs USB / FireWire amps, and possibly the kick and snare drum
independently of the live system. Placing two
Utilising the Direct Outputs on the live Numerous live consoles now boast the ability microphones in front of a singer, or on every
console is a simple way to obtain the channels to connect to your computer and record single drum, is not an option.
coming from the stage, but beware of a signals directly into your DAW of choice. This
few disadvantages of this method that can is a fantastically simple way to obtain a multi-
make the recording difficult to mix, or even track recording with minimal equipment,
unusable! however there are disadvantages (of course!). Microphone Splitters
Firstly, be aware that many consoles come Firstly, recording this way means you are
with their Direct Outputs wired post-fader, using a computer, which I simply cannot Using transformer isolated microphone
which means you will record all of the fader recommend as the safest way to record in a splitters provides you with complete control
moves, EQ, and inserts that the live engineer live environment, especially if you are being over the microphone signals, totally separate
uses; certainly not ideal! Most consoles have paid to do so. from the live console. This means that you
the option to switch the Direct Outputs to Secondly, this method can make it difficult to can set your own recording gains, and use
pre-fader, but this often involves opening the record ambient microphones. If there are no whichever preamps you desire.
console to change jumpers, and sometimes spare channels on the console, an additional The drawback of this method is that
soldering is required. audio interface may be required; if your microphone splitters and preamps dont grow
Secondly, using the Direct Outputs means software allows this. on trees, nor do they carry themselves to
you are using the microphone preamp inside the venue.
the live console. This means you will record
the sound of that preamp, along with any gain
adjustments and clipping!

AT 48
AT 49
 The
Dos & Donts
OF RECORDING A LIVE GIG
Do contact the live sound engineer prior to the gig.
Aside from it being polite, you will need to know the
model of their console to decide how you will share
signals.

Do use ambient microphones. The crowd is part of the
show too, put a mic on them! My favourite ambient
microphone setup is to use a pair of shotguns, one
either side of the stage facing towards the audience.
Place them above head height, and aim slightly
upwards so the audience is captured off axis. Using
a shotgun in this way captures the sound of the
audience as a whole, rather than hearing only the
closest few people.
Do use a backup. The recorder crashing is not an
option; so use two of them! Alternatively, an excellent
backup is a four-channel recording of the stereo FOH
mix along with a pair of ambient microphones. I also
make duplicates of hard-drives after each day of
recording; all for Justin.
Do use a power conditioner. I have lost a few racks of
microphone preamps over the years, and every single
time it has been while not using a conditioner. Maybe
it has been co-incidence, but I dont take the chance
anymore.
Do keep a pile of different looms and sex-changers
on hand. Also remember that some looms can be
joined together if necessary; an XLRF-TRS plus an
XLRM-TRS can join to make a TRS-TRS for example.
INPUTS
Now that we
know the
Outs of a live
recording, lets
think about the Ins! Most commonly you will
need a combination of TRS line inputs and XLR
microphone inputs; having enough of these inputs
will allow signals to be recorded from virtually
any source.
There are a number of choices for the recording
medium, with most falling into one of two
categories; DAW or Hard Disk Recorder.
DAW
Using a computer to record a live concert
is not my preferred method, but laptop
performance and stability has improved to a
point where they can be trusted to do the job,
providing everything is set up correctly.
Always run a test recording on the system
to ensure it can handle the number of tracks
and the length of time you hope to record for
(studio guys might not be used to recording
for an hour straight!).

Do leave the recorder running in Record if you have
to leave it unattended for some reason; recording Hard Disk Recorder TIP!
nothing is far better than missing something!
Hard disk recorders are, in general, a very
stable and reliable recording medium. They
give me confidence that a computer has yet
Dont use direct outputs from the monitor console
to deserve. The only downfall of the humble
if you can avoid it. Monitor engineers tend to mute
Hard Disk Recorder is their bulky size, but
channels that arent used in the monitors, which will
even this is changing with modern systems
usually mute the direct output. Monitor engineers also
like the JoeCo BlackBox, and the brand new
dont care too much about the gain levels of channels
Allen & Heath ICE-16, both of which are 1U
not used on stage, such as overheads and toms. Direct
systems weighing less than 3kg.
outputs from FOH are a much safer option.
Data management may not be a huge
issue if you are recording a one-off
show, but when recording festivals it can
become a big headache. A 24-channel
recording at 24-bit/48k will get to 10GB
in around 50 minutes, which doesnt
sound like much until you are recording
on six separate stages simultaneously
for three days straight! Always know how
much space you will need, and if you are
recording with a DAW, never fill the drive
more than 80% otherwise you are likely
to get fragmentation errors.

Dont send phantom where its not welcome. With all

of the interconnecting systems, it is important to be
aware of where phantom should and shouldnt be sent.

Dont use Y-split cables. These cables work, but can

cause grounding and phantom power issues. Use a
transformer isolated split instead.
TIP!
Dont put hard drives full of your days work in the An exciting live recording
boot of your car. Call me paranoid, but I dont want my technique is to mix the
time and effort wasted because someone rear-ends recording on the fly,
me at the lights! Treat these things like cash. recording directly to
stereo. This requires a
mixing console, decent
monitoring, a multicore, a
two-track recorder, a quiet
space near the stage, and a
lot of skill. This method can
be a whole lot of fun, and is
an extremely efficient way
of producing a (hopefully)
great sounding live
recording, but it only gives
you one shot at getting
the mix right! An extensive
soundcheck is the key here.

AT 50
 TOURING 6 PACK
Clip microphones from DPA it doesnt get any easier

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Distributed by Amber Technology - www.ambertech.com.au AT 51
 FEATURE
NOBODY
DOES IT
BETTER
The skys the limit for the team behind Adeles Rolling In The
Deep who, with the help of Karen Carpenters ghost, brought to
life a bona fide classic James Bond theme song.
Story: Paul Tingen
If you had to ascribe the archetype for a
classic James Bond theme song partnership,
youd be a fool not to put down the martini and
coolly bet the farm on the Bassey/Barry double. A
classic James Bond theme song has drama, tension,
an orchestra, and preferably no offence to
McCartney, Tom Jones and Chris Cornell a Bond
girl. Not the hapless heroines and femme fatales
who take Bonds fancy, but seductive crooning
beauties like Shirley Bassey and Nancy Sinatra.
Adding herself to this historic roll call is Adele,
who along with her writing partner/producer Paul
Epworth has managed to create one of the most
classic Bond theme songs since Diamonds Are
Forever, and claiming their place as the modern
day Bassey and John Barry.
When it comes to Bond theme songs, success
isnt a guarantee, its a prerequisite. Even for
someone that sold 25 million copies of her last
album, theres a lot of pressure following in the
footsteps of best sellers like Tom Jones, Paul
McCartney, Duran Duran, Tina Turner, Sheryl
Crow, Madonna, Chris Cornell, Alicia Keys
and Jack White. Skyfall, however, exceeds all
expectations. The track begins with restraint, just
with orchestra and then solo piano, later joined
by bass and electric guitar, over which Adele
sings the first two verses. Drums, bass, and a
huge orchestral arrangement come crashing in
AT 52
at 1:24 for the first chorus, immediately raising
the level to 11. Yet somehow the track sustains its
momentum until its ending at 4:50. Critics have
widely praised the song, calling it a majestic
ballad, a classic James Bond song, and noting
the rousing instrumentation elevates the vocals
to soaring heights. The songs commercial
reception has been exceptional, with the track
reaching number one in more than a dozen
countries. After the seemingly non-replicable
success of her album 21, Skyfall was in every
respect a perfect next step for Adele.
WIN FOR THE TEAM
The success of Skyfall could largely be attributed
to the old adage never change a winning team.
Adele co-wrote the song with Paul Epworth,
who also produced it, and it was mixed by Tom
Elmhirst both men had fulfilled the same roles
on smash single Rolling In The Deep. In an ante-
room in Air Lyndhurst in London, where Epworth
was working with Paul McCartney on the British
legends forthcoming solo album, he explained
how Skyfall came into being. Which takes us back
to the second half of 2011.
Initially the films producers were sounding Adele
and I out. Then they gave us the script to read,
recalled Epworth. It got to a point where it said,
Title Music. And I was thinking, Shit, this will be
a tough one. Adele wrote the lyrics for the song
right after shed read the script and texted them to
me. So they came before the music. We actually
sat down and discussed what the emotional
quality of the song should be, and we decided that
it had to be like two people standing back to back
against all odds with everything coming down
around them, and then to have an all-conquering
ending. For me it was a challenge to do something
that was so specific to a brief. I spent nearly a year
on it in terms of thinking about it and learning
what the other Bond songs and film scores were.
All the James Bond music has a certain modality
to it, like the C minor 9th chords and all those
John Barry and Monty Norman inflections which
are indicative of 1960s jazz arrangements. I spent
a long time figuring out these chords and how to
put them together.
The chords for the song came to me when I was
working at Henson Studios in LA and had this
weird eureka moment. I had been talking to one
of the assistants in Henson and he was saying,
Legend has it, Karen Carpenter haunts the place.
About an hour later I was on my own noodling
around on the piano in the live room and began
feeling like I wasnt necessarily alone. I dont want
to make out I saw a ghost or felt a presence, but
I found myself playing chords which Id never
played before, in a key I never use, with inversions
and voicings that I had never discovered until

In my mind I imagined
Karen Carpenter handed
me the chords
that moment. It was really spooky. Maybe in my
mind I imagined Karen Carpenter handing me
the chords and that was the inspiration. But if
you go back and listen to them, they do have that
resigned melancholy the Carpenters specialised
in. In any case, I felt lucky the chords came in a
way that I would remember.
You can hear that exact piano part at the
beginning of the song. I continued to work out
the chords and the song structure, and I had this
descending motif in the chord sequence that
sounds like something is falling.
I then put a demo arrangement of the whole
song together in my studio, Beethoven Street, in
January. I played everything: drums, bass, guitar,
and piano, though Nikolai Torp Larsen came in
to redo the piano. I had to find a way to make it
swing and played this drum arrangement that was
almost like a Bernard Purdie shuffle. I also wrote
an orchestral arrangement and demo-ed it with
samples and MIDI. After that I called Adele and
asked her if she wanted to come over and have
a listen. She came in and immediately cut her
vocal. Most of the vocals you can hear in the final
version are that first take. She heard the music
and just sang the part. It was pretty amazing. I
also had never imagined that she would do those
Shirley Bassey jazz inflections so well. It shows
what a great singer she is.
TAKING THE ABBEY ROAD
The next steps for Epworth and Adele involved
replacing the demo arrangement, completing
the singers vocals, adding backing vocals and
editing the song to make sure it had the desired
structure and length. This was done over three
days of sessions at Abbey Road Studio 2, during
May. The musicians were Leo Taylor on drums
and Tom Herbert on bass (both from the band
The Invisible), James Reid on guitar, and Danish
pianist Nicolaj Torp Larsen on piano.
James is an old friend of mine, explained
Epworth. Nicolaj plays with The Specials and
hes an amazing pianist. We cut the band live to a
click track. They played basically the same parts as
were on my demo, embellishing things a little bit
here and there. The orchestra was still my MIDI
arrangement, but all the band parts were replaced.
We also recorded the climactic call and response
vocal parts at the end, which was Adeles idea.
She demoed that in Beethoven Street and then we
thought, Why not go all Ennio Morricone, and
add a choir? That was done by the Metro Voices.
Adele and I really thought about the dynamic
shape of the song, and we had this idea for the
arrangement at the end of the track to create this
huge, grand ending. The swell of the first chorus
was like the euphoria of standing against the odds,
while the second half was like a death knell, and
then a rebirth at the end.
Epworth recalled that he had recorded Adele
at Beethoven Street using a Rode Classic
microphone going into a Telefunken V72. At
Abbey Road she was recorded with a Neumann
U49, but he wasnt clear on other details,
saying, Ive never been less hands-on with the
engineering of a project, because the intricacies
of the music required so much of my attention.
At Beethoven Street I had been assisted by my
assistant Joe Hartwell Jones, and the whole
approach was very throwaway, much in the
same way as with Rolling In The Deep. We had
also used the Rode on that song, and because
it sounded so good we used it again. The first
Abbey Road sessions were recorded by my
assistant Matt Wiggins, although I did guide him
in the sounds I wanted.
WIGGINS RECALL
Matt Wiggins cut his engineering teeth at The
Pool studio in south London. Epworth used to
visit the studio regularly and it was there they
first worked together. He then went on to work
with Epworth on records by Florence + the
Machine and Bloc Party, and began assisting
Epworth full time about a year ago. Wiggins
recalls, We spent much of the first day at
Abbey Road Studio 2 with Paul in the live room
conducting and producing and getting his vision
across, and everyone playing the parts over and
over again. After that we recorded the band in
just a couple of takes. We also recorded several
overdubs, because while the feel is better when
everybody plays together, you get more precision
with individual overdubs. The guitar and bass
amps were placed further away and baffled, so we
had enough separation to be flexible, with spill
only being a problem on the piano.
The desk in Studio 2 is a Neve 88R and because
we were at Abbey Road, theres a lot of EMI stuff,
compressors and EQs and so on, and we went
mad with those. I had a Neumann FET47 and
AKG D30 on the bass drum, and a Shure SM7
and Sennheiser MD441 on the snare, Neumann
U67s on the toms, Neumann KM84s on the
ride cymbal and hi-hat, AKG C24 for overheads
and Coles STC4038 and a couple of Schoeps
M50 mics for the ambience. There was also a kit
side mic, the Coles STC4041, which has a really
gnarly sound. I always set up loads of mics, but
dont use everything. We had a rack of Neve 1081
preamps and for the most parts used those and
then went through the desk, using EMI gear like
the TG12345 Curve Bender EQ on overheads
AT 53
 Leo, Tom, James and Nikolaj laying
down the basic tracks at Abbey Road.
and plenty of other things on the way in,
like API 550B EQs, and Fairchild and
Distressor compressors.
The bass was recorded with a DI and an AKG
C12, and then treated with compressors such
as the Distressor, Fairchild, EMI RS124 and
Teletronix LA-2A, and EQs like the API 550B
and the Pultec EQP-1A. We had three guitar
amps set up, but only used two, and we recorded
them with Shure SM57s and DIs. The piano
was recorded with two Neumann M49 mics
and a Sennheiser MD441 and captured the
piano room with an old RCA 44BX. I also put
up a Shure SM7 so I could listen to what Paul
was saying while I was in the control room. As
for Adele, we began by recording her with a
Neumann U47 but then changed to the M49,
because it sounded better. Her vocals then went
through the Neve 1081 and then a Urei 1176
compressor. The choir consisted of just four
male singers, who were recorded with the piano
mics, being the two Neumann M49s and the
RCA 44BX, but placed just a bit further away to
capture more of the room sound.
J.A.C.D UP ARRANGEMENT
Following the session at Abbey Road studio 2,
recalls Wiggins, Paul and I spent two to three
days editing the song and doing monitor mixes,
to give the mixer, Tom Elmhirst, an idea where
AT 54
Paul wanted to go with the song, and then Tom
took it to the next level. The work I did was all in
the box, the main area of concern was ensuring
Adeles vocals sound consistent throughout the
track. After Elmhirst completed his mix, at
his room in Metropolis in London (see below),
Epworth presented the song to the Skyfall
producers, who gave the song the final go-ahead
and the budget to re-record the MIDI strings and
brass with a real orchestra.
Epworth elaborated: I was hoping that Thomas
Newman [who composed the Skyfall movie
score], would do the string arrangement, but his
schedule was so crazy that we went with J.A.C.
Redford, who is a great arranger and composer in
his own right. J.A.C. and I sat down for a day with
the MIDI parts that everyone had lived with for a
while. He ran with it and turned it into something
amazing. His arrangement was a hybrid of my
MIDI parts which had existed from day one, a
conversation we had about how I intended to hear
those parts, and J.A.C.s detail, colour, voicings
and dynamics. He was very receptive to my input
and we changed a fair amount of it again when we
recorded the orchestra at Abbey Road Studio 1 in
the beginning of September.
Wiggins added, They were recording the cues for
the movie score, and we got to use the orchestra
for one afternoon. It was incredible. Paul was
pretty involved with the arrangements during
the recordings. Simon Rhodes was the engineer,
and I sat in. After the session we went through
everything to be able to send it as quickly as
possible to Tom, who by that time was in New
York and was planning to start the mix the next
day. The session was in 96k and quite large, so
we had to start uploading the 5.1 orchestral
stems that same evening. When they record an
orchestra, stems are always routinely created,
both in stereo and 5.1. We later sent the entire
session over so Tom had all the individual tracks
to work with as well. Tom then made everything
sound great. Its a really dynamic song, and the
dynamics that he created were phenomenal.
TYING STRINGS TOGETHER
One of Britains star mixers, Elmhirst was until
last Summer based in Studio C in Metropolis
studios in London, but moved in July 2012 to
Electric Lady Studio C in New York. I felt I had
become a little bit too comfortable in London, so
I wanted to shake it up a bit, explained Elmhirst,
adding that he bought an identical desk to the
one he had at Metropolis, a Neve VR72, at CRC
studios in Chicago. He also had his extensive
collection of outboard gear shipped from London
to New York, including pieces from Shadow Hills,
Manley, EMI and plenty more. The only genuine
gear change involved him abandoning his beloved
KRK9000s, because he had problems finding new
drivers, in favour of ATC SCM50s. I love them,
enthused Elmhirst. Theyre great. They and my
Auratones are the monitors I use the most now.

I mixed the Skyfall session in two parts, said
Elmhirst. I first mixed it in London, which was
the band recorded in Abbey Road with MIDI
strings and brass. This was the bulk of the work
and it was a complete mix in itself. Many people Then they gave us the script to read... It got to a
would have been happy with that version. The
strings sounded great, even though they were point where it said, Title Music. And I was
programmed. Once they got the go-ahead and thinking, Shit, this will be a tough one
scored and re-recorded the MIDI material with a

90-piece orchestra at Abbey Road, I did a second
mix, using mainly stems from the first mix and
of the orchestra. I had a strange day in New York
pondering whether to mix the whole orchestra
again, but I ended up working in the box with
the provided stems, only bringing some of the

original tracks back in when I wanted to have
more control.
Theres a significant difference between the pre-
mix session screen shot sent by engineer Matt
Wiggins, which shows some extensive, sprawling
guitar, vocals and choir tracks recorded in Abbey
Road. Elmhirsts own screen shot, by contrast,
is exceptionally tidy and compact, with the final
mix at the top, and then an aux track, the band
in stereo, an instrumental version track, timpani,
new percussion, piano, brass, horns, strings, and
Adeles vocals all neatly arranged. We do a lot
of bouncing, explained Elmhirst. What Im left
with is one page of extremely clear information
that makes it easy for me to work. I cant work by
looking at page after page of stuff. Obviously, the
one page idea is slightly redundant now, because
you can get screens that are absolutely massive,
but for me its still about clarity of thought.
My assistant, Ben Baptie, prepares my mix
sessions, organises everything and does a lot of
the bouncing, so when I first look at the session,
Ill immediately be able to understand it and
assign outputs on the console without complex
bussing. Its my job as a mixer to get to the core
elements and concentrate on those. I always
equate going into the studio to going into the
ring with Mike Tyson, which means I have to
give everything every day. You cant do it half-
hearted. And when I sit down, I want to be able
to go straight into it and reduce any complexities,
problems, and distractions, so I can focus on
what is essential.
ELECTRIC LADY VOCAL
The essentials of Elmhirsts mix of Skyfall involved
a particular focus on the vocals, the orchestra, and
most of all, the dynamic shape of the track as a whole.
Elmhirst explained, Adeles vocals were a constant
fiddling process. Because her vocal was recorded in
sections in different places, and not in one take or on
one day. I had to do a lot of work to unify it sonically.
Thats why I brought back the original vocal during the
second mix at Electric Lady, rather than just using the
vocal stem. I used a Decapitator, because it can put an
extra harmonic in there and change the timbre. Its not
driven hard, so theres no distortion. Other plug-ins I
used on her vocals were the Waves De-esser, UAD 1176
compressor and UAD Pultec EQ, and the Digirack EQ.
The outboard was probably my Urei 1176, Tube-Tech
CL1B, a Neve 1081, and reverbs. Doing her vocals took
a lot of time!

AT 55
 DOUBLE REVERB
My two main reverbs in the session were a
Trilliam Lane spring and UAD EMT140 plate.
These two often are my general reverbs. The
spring is quite particular and would not have
been used on everything, but the UAD EMT is
really good and would have been used on many
different things, including the vocals. During
the first mix session at Metropolis I would have
operated them from the console, but once I was
Elmhirsts house warming at Electric Lady
AT 56
in the stem session they would have been on
a bus in the computer. Aux 2 is the TL and Aux
4 the EMT. The song lent itself to a more diva-
esque vocal sound for Adele, and the reverbs
helped here, but I also wanted it to sound like
Adele, which is quite simple, without too much
processing. She had to sound quite grand and
classic, but at the same time, natural.
STRUNG OUT
The orchestra stands very proud in the final mix. In
the pop world an orchestra can be quite lush and non-
aggressive and non-attack-like sounding, with a lot of
bass, and all that stuff gets lost in the mix. It can be a
battle to get the orchestra to cut through. This being a
Bond song, the orchestra had to be a real feature. That
wasnt too hard, though, because there was very little
fighting the strings and the brass, apart from perhaps
the guitar and the piano. But once the drums kick
off, the main areas of interest are the vocals and the
orchestra. I wanted to keep the drums in there and for
it to sound chunky, but theres a lot going on and its
not easy to discern everything. It does become a wall
of sound, even as everything finds its place.
At Electric Lady I used the Waves Q10 EQ and Q4
parametric EQ, and the UAD Neve 33609 compressor
and 1081 EQ on the real orchestra to try and replicate
what I had done to the MIDI strings in London. They
were really well done, so I kept some of these MIDI
orchestra parts in the final mix. The Q10 dips out
specific frequencies that were bugging me, 1074,
3175, and 5301Hz, with very narrow bandwidths. I do
that a lot. High mids can really bug me, and I often
find myself fighting this harshness in the 2-5kHz area
in pop records. It looks drastic, but it doesnt sound
that drastic. I use EQ much more frequently to reduce
things than to boost. I didnt use any outboard on the
strings during the New York mix session, but theyre
bussed to an aux track (NUST) where I did a lot of
riding and also had some EMT140. But the orchestra
was well-recorded; they know how to do that at Abbey
Road, so the volume automation was the main thing.
In general, the dynamics were the hardest and most
important part of this mix. I had to make sure that
things kept on going and kept on building.
Elmhirst
used Waves
Renaissance Bass
to intensify the
bass guitar.
Squeezing every bit out of those ghostly Karen Carpenter
piano chords makes the intro really stand up.
I felt I had become a little bit too comfortable
in London, so I wanted to shake it up a bit
BUS COMPRESSOR
I had the UAD SSL bus compressor on the final stereo
mix. I really like it and I used it because of the weird
hybrid I had in New York of stems, original parts, and
the new orchestra. So all the tracks were bussed to
an aux, on which I had the SSL compressor to hold it
all together. Everything went through my EMI Curve
Bender EQ and the Manley Vari-Mu compressor
Ear Monitors Australia #44outboard boxes. 1:47
1/12/05 The latter
PM is quite
Pageslow,
1 so the SSL
would have done most of the work. Finally, things went
back into the same session via my Cranesong HEDD.
My EMA in-ear monitors are really good when it
comes to pitching my vocal. And the vocal sounds
great its right up close. My in-ears let me go
anywhere on stage and I get the same result.
custom moulded and
generic fit in-ear monitors
STRONG BOND
Surveying the end result a few months later, with a
track that is regularly described as the best James
Bond song ever, and that also made serious dents
in charts around the world, Elmhirst reflected, Its
quite tough to create a James Bond track to order,
but I think they did an amazing job. It touches
on many things, including the nostalgia of John
Barrys string moves, yet at the same time its
contemporary. They did that brilliantly.
So did Paul Epworth know he was onto a good
thing during the making, or did the response take
him by surprise? I knew, said Epworth. I always
felt like we were doing the right thing. I found
chords that I would not normally play, and that
was a real learning process for me as a songwriter.
But I can give chords to people all day, and in the
end it might not mean anything. It was Adeles
lyrics and vocal performance that made it all
count. Thats what makes it worth everything.
Jimmy Barnes
Ear Monitors Australia
38 Hall Road, South Warrandyte VIC 3134
T: 03 9844 2524 W: www.earmonitorsaustralia.com
Ear Monitors Australia and the EMA logo are registered Trade marks of
Australian Hearing Laboratories Pty Ltd.
AT 57
 FEATURE

Paul Kellys music is naturally Australian, so what better

way to capture the icons latest record, Spring & Fall, than
surrounded by natural country hall reverb.
Story: J. Walker
Photos: Andrew Doherty

AT 58

A real lesson in the art of
musicians listening to
each other, being patient,
adjusting tones and parts
until the magic started
happening
NATURAL HALL REVERB
Last but not least were the room mics. I had a
Neumann U87 and a Neumann TLM102 way up the
back of the hall on each side, low down, facing up into
the rafters and a Sennheiser 441 dynamic at head level
in the middle of the room pointing straight at Paul.
I also ended up putting a BeezNees Arrabella in the
middle of our rough semi circle of players in omni with
the low pass filter in to give a bit more of a picture of
the whole sound from one perspective. The BeesNeez
went through an API 512b preamp but the other room
mics had to be content with the humble Digi 002 mic
pres that had just enough headroom to get the job
done. AD Conversion was via an RME ADI8DS or direct
through the 002, and we recorded at 24-bit/48k.
When I got the call to work with Paul Kelly on a new
record I felt really fortunate. Id worked a little with Paul
years ago, and had also done some co-writing and producing
with Pauls frequent collaborator and nephew Dan Kelly so I
knew I was going to be working with quality people as well as
(do I even need to write this?) amazing songwriters and
musicians.
We talked a little about what kind of record Paul wanted to
make and it soon became clear that he was after something
pretty intimate and stripped back; less full-band arrangements,
more space around the songs. Paul and Dan had just finished
up touring in support of The A To Z Recordings and book a
catalogue of Pauls songs performed alphabetically, often just
with the two of them onstage so they were really tuned in to
each other musically and had developed a powerful sound with
Paul playing rhythm on his beautiful old 40s Martin acoustic
and Dan playing more melodic riffs and solos on electric and
acoustic guitars.
OUT OF THE STORM
We talked about the kind of acoustic-based records that had
inspired us over the years, the kind of sounds we liked and the
way the songs seemed to be heading stylistically. It seemed to
me that this record didnt want to be made in a conventional city
studio. In the end we had it narrowed down to a couple of larger
multi-use spaces we could rent in Melbourne, my studio in
South Gippsland or one of my local country halls there were
a few Id been using in recent years with good results.
On our first day of pre-production at my studio we were
subjected to an almighty storm straight out of the Southern
Ocean. Just after dark we had a blackout in the middle of
a song followed by a minor flood in the studio which put
the dampeners on things at my place for the night. As the
catastrophes mounted we happened to hit on just the right
feel for one of the key songs on the record. I was playing along
on double bass and Dan was weaving lovely arpeggios around
Pauls dobro guitar chords. We were excited enough by it that
we kept jamming it out right through the blackout in the pitch
darkness we knew we were onto something good. My wife
Karen somehow managed to keep the kids happy and cook us
a roast by candlelight in the gas oven that night, and Paul and
Dan went away damp but in good spirits. I meanwhile was
wondering how we were going to go about recording a whole
album down here in this wild place in the middle of a cold wet
Victorian winter, especially if we ended up liking the sound of
one particular hall (which I was secretly pinning my hopes on).
We had another couple of days of pre-production booked so I
figured wed better do a dry run up at the hall and see how we
went before making a final decision.
MAWSON HALL
I discovered Mawson Hall a couple of years ago when I made
one of my rare C-grade appearances for the local tennis club in
an away fixture and its become one of my favourite places in
the world to record music. It ticks all the boxes its back off
the road a little, no close neighbours and the road itself is pretty
quiet. Its run by a very supportive local community who are
happy to have acoustic music in there at a generous hire rate and
its on top of the world with views of the lush South Gippsland
hills in every direction.
Its even got a well-equipped kitchen separate to the main room
and a little library off to one side that works well as an amp
booth. Most importantly of all its got clean 240V power and a
beautiful big main room with a sweet, woody, darkish reverb
thats ideal for solo artists and acoustic combos to play in. My
experience in this room is that artists come in a little unsure and
leave with a big smile on their faces.
AT 59
 CAPTURING THE BUZZSAW
From the flood session Id already discovered that my
default vocal chain of Neumann U87 microphone into
Neve 1272 preamp alongside an Octava ML-53 mic into
UA 6176 pre wasnt cutting the mustard on Pauls voice.
The U87 sounded scratchy with too much midrange, and
to my surprise the Octava (the darkest mic I own) sounded
barky and harsh. Paul has enormous amounts of 1-3kHz in
his voice, which he jokingly refers to as the buzzsaw and
we needed some smoother options.
I decided to go upmarket, renting a Neumann U47 valve
condenser and an old RCA DX77 ribbon mic from Sing
Sing Studios. The idea was to have two very different
sounding mics working together on the voice. In this
case it allowed us to play the power and fidelity of the
condenser off against the warm chest character and
midrange grit of the ribbon. I spent a lot of time working
with the positioning of these two mics to minimise guitar
spill and catch the best angle of tone out of Pauls mouth,
while not getting in his line of sight for lyric reading and
sight-lines to Dan and myself. Using the figure-8 polar
pattern on the U47 further limited spill from the guitar
and I placed some soft material down on the floor where
the other lobe was pointing to minimise reflections. It
was also vital to constantly check phase with each mic
adjustment so the whole process took a while. We ended
up swapping the RCA for an AEA A840, basically a modern
active version of the same mic, and the results were just a
little less coloured and more tonally controlled.

With this old-school approach its really

important that the artist fully buys into the idea
of live vocal takes because there will inevitably
be imperfections, even when you cut between
takes a fair bit. However, theres a massive
pay-off in terms of overall performance levels
and atmospherics in what goes down. My other
favourite thing about working this way is that
after the first day everyone can listen back to
the takes and hear what is basically the sound
of the record vocals, spill, ambience and all,
not some carefully honed bed tracks that you
imagine will one day feel vibey and alive after
youve spent days overdubbing and messing
with them in the mix. Its very immediate and
the emphasis shifts from modern studio trickery
back to the bedrock of songwriting, arrangement
and performance. Of course, you need quality
singers and players to pull off live takes but I had
no concerns on that score.
PRE-PRODUCTION A BAND IS BORN
Despite nervous looks at the weather forecast
(rain on a tin roof sounds a lot like white
noise) we got a good couple of days in up at
Mawson Hall with no problems. One of our
other main concerns was staying warm, but
between our collection of bar and column
heaters and the handy addition of the rocket
a diesel-powered flame heater that sounds
like a jet engine but heats the room up in about
five minutes we seemed to be able to play
comfortably. I had decided to go the whole hog
and rent, borrow and scrounge everything I
thought I might need for the main sessions to
come. Ive always got a fair range of mics and
BAGGING A GUITAR SOUND
preamps to bring along but I borrowed a few The other issue was vocal spill in the guitar mic so, as
extra goodies from colleagues Cal Orr and well as a Beyerdynamic M88 dynamic mic in close near
Andy Stewart. the soundhole, we used an L.R Baggs pickup on Pauls
Martin that ended up being a godsend, particularly
As it turned out, our pre-production went when Paul was finger picking softly and singing loudly.
extremely well and three of the four cuts we
did over those two days ended up on the album
(exactly what should happen in pre-production
as far as Im concerned). Its great when youre
making the album before you even know you are,
and a good reason to always set up for real. Paul
and Dan fell in love with sound of the hall and
we all really liked what we were hearing back.
Contrary to what you might think, recording
in a live space like a large country hall doesnt
mean you have to make a really reverb-drenched
album. With all the room mics muted you can
hear a lot of detailed, close articulations of
the sounds but you can feel the warmth of the
space that lies beyond the detail without being
particularly aware of the hall reverb itself. Then
of course when you wind the room mics back
in, the whole thing opens up and becomes more
ambient, but the important thing is that you can
control it depending on the needs of each song.
The other thing that happened in those two days
was that we started to really gel as a three-piece. I
was (and still am) going through a bit of a double
bass phase, and that instrument just seemed
to sit right for this particular group of songs
and the way the album needed to feel. When it
worked right, the double bass played the role of

AT 60

bass and kick drum while the shortish decay of
the notes left plenty of space open for the other
instruments. At first I was a little concerned that
I might be losing my producers focus by
becoming part of the band, but that seemed to be
the way the music wanted to flow and the others
were into it. Dan felt that because I was pinning
down the bass notes it freed him to concentrate
more on melodic ideas, and it also added a bit
of extra rhythmic propulsion to Pauls powerful
acoustic playing.
BOMBS AWAY
The set-up for those two days ended up being
our blueprint for the whole project and we didnt
deviate from those basic mic placements and
signal chains too much. Not a lot of compression,
plenty of room mic options and a fair bit of
attention to detail regarding Pauls vocal mics and
Dans sounds and amp level in the hall. Once wed
got everything sounding sweet there wasnt really
that much to it and we could focus in on the song
arrangements.
We seemed to fall into a pattern where wed work
a song for a few hours and get it to a particular
stage, and then thered be a shift. Dan would put
his electric down and pick up a dobro, or Paul
would switch from the Martin to a parlour guitar,
or Id put the bass down and grab a high-strung,
Nashville-style guitar, and then the arrangement
would suddenly come together and what had
been sounding a bit average half an hour before,
sounded fully realised.
It was funny how often this happened and it
was a trick that kept working for us. I found the
whole thing enormously satisfying and a real
lesson in the art of musicians listening to each
other, being patient, adjusting tones and parts
until the magic started happening. The real
luxury was that Paul, being such a consistently
great singer, was willing to sing all day as long as
we were making progress. While he was feeling
out how to approach each songs delivery (now
and again tweaking lyrics on the fly) Dan and
I were sorting the wheat from the chaff among
the melodic and rhythmic ideas that were flying
around the room. Dan is a consummate guitarist
and made an art form of working up subtle
delay and tremolo effects to wring memorable,
character-drenched melodic lines out of his
Gibson SG. Hes equally at home on a classical
guitar or an organ too, and his arrangement skills
and musicianship were central to the shaping
of every track. He also possesses absolutely
sensational cooking skills that quickly became
mission critical.
ROLLING ON
The weeks rolled by quickly, a flurry of gear
set-ups and pack-downs, ensemble recordings,
careful listening sessions and edits between
takes, excellent Kelly-cooked meals and kicks
of footy out the front of the hall in the fading
South Gippsland winter light. We set up for four
days at Melbournes Head Gap studios where a
superb roll call of guests came through the door;
Dan and Peter Luscombe on keys and drums,
LOUD IN THE LIBRARY
Dans set-up revolved around two amps, a pint-sized
Vox that we baffled off in the corner but let bleed a
little into the live space, and a Fender Blues Junior
locked away in the library. I miked the Vox with an
AKG 451 pencil condenser and the Fender with
either a Shure SM57 or the Octava ML-53 with
either Universal Audio or Phoenix Audio solid-state
preamps. Dan would generally split his signal with
a dry, unaffected tone hitting the Vox and whatever
combination of echo, distortion and tremolo effects
pedals he had going into the Fender. The combination
of these two tones gave us plenty of options. When
Dan switched to acoustic Id grab the 451 or the 57,
swing it around facing somewhere near where the
neck joins the bridge and off wed go. My own set-up
for the double bass (and occasional guitar) was a
Neumann hand-held condenser heavily baffled off and
placed a foot or so away pointing somewhere between
the bridge and F-hole. This mic went into a Retro
Powerstrip with just a little EQ lift at 3kHz and a tickle
of compression.
Vika and Linda Bull singing fireside harmonies,
Attila and Carolina Kuti adding violin, viola and
cello and Laura Jean singing something between
harmony and duet on some key songs. Before we
knew it we were out the door, out of the city and
back at the hall or my studio for more overdubs
and evaluations of the songs. Some quality
songs didnt quite make the album because of
its thematic nature the whole thing is really
the musical anatomy of a relationship in first
bloom that then starts to drift before hitting rock
bottom break-up terrain, and then theres a bit of
a recovery at the end. We were still debating the
merits of certain songs when the mix began at
Andy Stewarts Mill studios down near the South
Gippy beaches.
TANDEM MIXING
As Id hoped, Andy came into the mix full of
zest and fresh perspective after a holiday in
California, and we were ready for the delicate
task of mixing the record together on Andys 51
series Neve console. It can be quite tricky mixing
with someone else, but Andy and I have done
a few projects like this and we seem to have the
knack of making it work. I generally lay out the
song on the console and get it functioning as
a basic mix after a few hours, then Andy takes
over and hones in on key elements; the main
vocal (Retro 176 compression, console EQ, lots
of volume automation to keep the lyric front and
centre), guitars (old Neve compressors, console
EQ), bass (Calrec compressor, Retro valve EQ),
and effects (Lexicon 480L and AKG spring
reverbs). Eventually Ill come back in and focus
on some of the flavour elements like the backing
vocals, string and piano overdubs, and then well
finish it off together, in this case with key input
from Paul.
Another hidden bonus of working with another
mixer was the bits of downtime that we both used
to drive around the hills with Paul, evaluating
mixes and testing out the tricky business of song
AT 61
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AT 62
surfs at the beach down the hill, and once we
ended up at the local pub where we were invited
to come down later for an old fashioned session.
We went back late in the evening and there were
about 20 older country folk all playing together,
something they do every second Thursday
apparently, all instrumental abilities welcome. We
spent a couple of hours listening and joining in
with a bunch of the most friendly country folks
youll ever meet, all singing at the top of their
voices and having a ball. Later they took photos
of Paul and made him pour them beers at the bar.
While this kind of thing doesnt exactly advance
the cause of the mixing, its pretty handy to walk
into the studio with fresh ears after a couple of
hours and hear what needs to be adjusted. At least
thats what we told ourselves.
NEW FOUND PERSPECTIVE
Back to the mix for this album my new trick
was to have an Al Smart compressor set up to
parallel compress and crush a few key acoustic
elements such as acoustic guitars, percussion
and BVs and then just ride a little of it in behind
the main treatments. I also won the argument
on which mix bus compressor to use, favouring
the JLM Mac stereo pair over the Amek. Both
are transparent (which is what we were after)
but I like the sound of the JLM better and Andy
sweetened up the mix with some high shelving
Avalon valve EQ.
There was one song that wouldnt quite come
right. Predictably, it was the first song on the
album, New Found Year, and critical to the whole
song cycle to have it there. After much discussion
Andy pulled out his drum kit and brushes and re-
recorded the rhythmic elements at the Mill while
Paul and I made one last dash up to Mawson Hall
POOR MANS ABSORBER
Using two stacks of chairs, a long broomstick and
some hanging doonas I made a poor mans absorber
behind Paul up on the little stage to further reduce
roominess in the close mics. I knew Paul wasnt really
that keen on reverb in general and had some legitimate
concerns about recording in such a live space so I
wanted to make sure we had some options in terms of
dry and wet sounds for the mix.
to do a fresh vocal and guitar take. When we put
it all together the song worked much better and a
lot of back-patting ensued. Dan agreed via email
from London where hes busy working on a new
Dan Kelly record.
When the last mix was printed there was a
palpable air of relief all round and we shared a
quick drink before we all raced off to embark
on other projects. Altogether the record took
17 days of tracking and 12 days of mixing a
pretty economical way to make an album and
an absolute pleasure to be involved with from
start to finish. Time will tell where it rates in
Pauls stellar recording career. Its an album
thats been created to be experienced as an
album perhaps a rarer thing in this day and
age and it certainly isnt geared towards any
particular audience or radio station. Its just a
great collection of acoustic songs from one of
our best songwriters. Time doesnt stand still for
Paul Kelly. Hes as curious about the world and as
creatively committed and hard-working as ever,
so its no surprise hes effortlessly avoided the
later career fadeouts of many a contemporary.
As I write this hes collaborating on an amazing
spoken word performance event with modern
classical composer James Ledger. Cant wait to see
what he does next.
 www.cda-proaudio.com
Sydney, Australia
Unit 5 / 45 - 51 Huntley St.
Follow us: ALEXANDRIA NSW 2015
M: + 61 (0) 488 404 704
T: + 61 2 9330 1750
F: + 61 2 8338 9001
Melbourne, Australia
Asian Pacific Business Centres.
Suite Garden 1, 215 Bell St.
PRESTON VIC 3072
T: + 61 (0) 448 303 737
F: + 61 2 8338 9001
sales@cda-proaudio.com
Perth, Australia
Unit 4 / 17 Welshpool Rd.
WELSHPOOL WA 6106
T: + 61 8 9470 2211
F: + 61 8 9472 3617
AT 63
 FEATURE

CARDTALK THE MESSENGER MP3 PLAYER

A needle attached to a folded cardboard backing that A hand-cranked cassette player was hardy but The next-gen messenger still required a bit of hand-
doubled as an amplifier, supply your own rotating stick. wouldnt survive tribal electronics servicing. cranking, but was hands free when travelling.

MESSAGING
We just hit the 30th anniversary of the
compact disc. It had a good run, but its
already hitting the pile of obsolete media,
alongside tape and vinyl. Global Recordings
Network (GRN) knows obsolete media all too
case. One tribal group encountered a problem
when their Messenger cassette player failed to
work. Their strong belief in the spirit world led
them to the conclusion that it had been afflicted
by an evil spirit. The evil spirit could be cast out

THE WORLD well. When youre trying to spread a global

message like the gospel to the furthest reaches of
the earth, a little old-fashioned ingenuity goes a
long way. In the 60s it was CardTalk, a simple
cardboard record player
of the machine by either throwing it into the fire,
or smoking it out. Needless to say, neither was
helpful to the Messenger. Another tribe believes
that healing comes through immersion in water
also not helpful for a

that could play sick Messenger!
Global Recordings phonograph records
In its 73-year history, GRN
Network has a history without electricity. The
has distributed over 13
of ingenious methods folded piece of cardboard
connected to the
million records, cassette
for delivering the gospel devices needle
Another tribe believes tapes and CDs in over 6000
languages (Ethnologues
to hard to reach places. doubled as an amplifier. that healing comes catalogue of known living
These days theyre
No motor was necessary,
just a sharp stick to turn
through immersion in languages tips the scales

hoping to go viral. the record. Hundreds of water also not helpful at just over 6900), and has
most recently developed
Story: Mark Davie & David Hughes
thousands of these were
distributed worldwide.
for a sick Messenger! and produced robust,

In the 70s and 80s
GRN brought out a
range of hand crank
robust cassette players,
the Messenger, which bumped up the quality
and continued to let the message spread without
electricity.
While these might not be considered modern
technologies even in their day the
introduction of any technology into these tribal
groups provided a few humorous moments.
In the western world it is largely understood
that if machinery of any type is not working, it
needs to be repaired, said GRN Australia CEO
Christine Platt. But for those with a limited
knowledge of technology, this is not always the
hand-wind mp3 players.
These days though,
everyone has a mobile
phone. There are over
four billion active around the world, and on
each of those phones is an audio player. Even
places which have been historically difficult to
access, like Mongolia, Afghanistan and Vanuatu,
have a high penetration of phones. In Tanzanian
families, the penetration rate is 98%. Even where
they dont have electricity connected, people will
pay the one person in the village with a generator
to charge it for them, GRNs Mobile Strategist
James Thomas said.
FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS
While the possible reach into the third world is
much greater, GRNs distribution problems have

AT 64
 Bring out your

DEAD !
HUGE TRADE-IN DEALS
on Sennheiser Wireless Mic systems.

MOBILE REVOLUTION
Now even hard to reach areas have mobile phones...
with audio players.

turned entirely first world: First, theres the technical challenge of

being cross-platform. You think its bad having to code for Apple Trade in your old or non compatible system
and Android devices, spare a thought for the guy that has to think for a NEW Sennheiser Wireless System
about old Nokia bricks, and Motorola flip phones. In addition, said
Thomas, Internet bandwidth can be quite slow in many locations, and get an amazing
so we have challenges relating to the compromise between audio files
sizes and their quality. TRADE IN DEAL !
Then of course, theres the challenge of their message vying for Any brand wireless system accepted.
attention amongst the Katy Perrys and Rihannas of the world.
Though wouldnt you rather have a song in your own language, Limit of one trade in per Sennheiser Wireless System.
recorded with your traditional music, over a pop princess bleating
about partying on a Friday night with her posse of bitches? When
we record their languages we often record some Christian songs with
their traditional music, so they also enjoy hearing their own songs,
Thomas said.
GOING VIRAL
Contact your local Sennheiser Dealer
Currently, GRN is working on a mobile outreach website, (5fish.
mobi), an Android app, and continuing work on GRNs main FOR A GREAT TRADE-IN DEAL
website (globalrecordings.net). All house free-of-charge audio
recordings of the gospel. And the hope is that like a good lolcat or
OK GO video, once the recordings touch down in a community,
theyll go viral. visit
Thomas: The phone users are familiar with the Bluetooth
transfer of popular music and so can use the same methods
to transfer our materials.
ddready.com.au for more information
It is not an easy task to make millions of people aware that our
materials are available. We need to put more work into making GRN
easy to find on search engines like Google. And we need to continue
developing relationships with the missionaries and churches on the
ground who are reaching these groups, so that they can make use of Freecall 1800 648 628
the materials. We are confident that the effectiveness of the materials sales@syntec.com.au
speak for themselves, so once they become initially aware of their
availability, the materials can spread by word of mouth.
GRN also does its own audio editing training for young people keen
to get some hands on experience. While the more adventurous can
get trained and tooled up as field recordists, travelling to some of the
most remote regions on earth. Not a bad day job.

AT 65
 TUTORIAL

Getting to know level standards across the audio

disciplines so we can all speak the same language.
Tutorial: Brent Heber

Im often asked by engineers how easy it is to

transfer knowledge between the four traditional TYPICAL DYNAMIC RANGE
mass media industries involving audio editing and Music: Varies in level between -13 and -8 LUFS with
0 LUFS
mixing. Namely, Music, TV, Film, and Radio. Short an average 1 LUFS dynamic range (i.e., none)
answer: Think of it like dialects. While many audio Radio: -24 LUFS with 5 LUFS range
skills are translatable, our cousins in the broadcast TV: -24 LUFS with 10 LUFS range
suite arent necessarily speaking the same language as Film: -27 LUFS with 20 LUFS range
those native to cinema, or engineers brought up in
*LUFS (Loudness Units, relative to digital Full Scale)
the music studio. For instance, an understanding of
levels in the digital realm and how to meet delivery
specifications can be universal, but without knowing
-10
each industrys specific standards you could end up
with a mix of gobbledygook. In this article Im going
to dive into the key differences in approach when
managing levels between the various formats.
ON THE LEVEL
The key difference when approaching a project
destined for mixed media is to remember the target
listening environments thats how the various -20
standards have been developed. If we look at each
format and compare them in the digital realm with
each approaching zero dBFS (Decibels relative to Full -24 -24 -24
Scale zero being the maximum possible digital
level measured inside your DAW), then a format
thats generally listened to as background sound with -27
speakers turned down (i.e., music) will want to be
the hottest and most compressed in order to compete -30
and be heard. In contrast, a format with a listening
environment where speakers are up nice and loud
in a soundproof environment, like the cinema, will
want the softest delivery, far away from clipping and
with the most dynamic range. Film mixing engineers
are constantly provided music hitting close to digital
zero, and the first thing we have to do is drop the
level by 20dB so it doesnt blow up our speakers, -40
which are set much louder than in a comparably-
sized music studio.
MUSIC RADIO TV SHOW FILM

AT 66
MUSIC MASTERING
Most readers can relate to delivery for Red
Book audio CD: 16-bit/44.1k, get the peaks as
close to zero as possible without clipping and
job done. This sort of simplistic overview does
nothing to illuminate how loud the material
is and its often the first thing a new engineer
notices when comparing his home recordings
versus a commercial release; the mastered retail
disc is massively louder and fuller across the
frequency spectrum. Of course, a quality mix
destined for CD cant simply be mastered into
shape with Ozone or similar, there needs to
be a loud, punchy, clean mix going into the
mastering process for it to really shine. Loudness
is a key measurement in all mixing and its only
in recent years that an objective measurement
scale has been developed to shed light on what
has traditionally been the art of mastering. With
loudness meters an engineer can now say with
certainty this track is exactly as loud as that track
and standardise across a release. More about
loudness meters later.
With the advent of digital delivery and online
music sales we are increasingly moving away
from the CD as a delivery format and this has
changed the game when it comes to mastering.
The MP3 format, love it or hate it, has to be a big
factor when mastering a commercial release and
given iTunes domination, the Apple AAC format
is as important if not more so.
Two tools have been released in recent years to
assist here, the Sonnox Fraunhofer Pro-Codec
plug-in is the pro solution. The plug-in allows
real time auditioning of various delivery codecs,
so it can be inserted over your mix and you can
hear exactly what each adjustment youre making
will sound like once the uncompressed wav has
been converted into an MP3 or AAC. The plug-in
allows multiple formats to be auditioned easily
and if you have a selection you use regularly,
you can speed up deliveries by simultaneously
bouncing your mix out to an uncompressed
master as well as your common formats. At
USD$295 its quite an affordable mastering tool.
The second option is a suite of applications
called the Apple Audio Mastering Tools freely
provided by Apple. The tools contain reference Loudness is a key
guides, droplets, and command line instructions measurement in all
to assist engineers converting uncompressed
wav files into the Apple iTunes Plus format (VBR mixing and its only in
256kbps AAC with an .m4a extension). A bit recent years that an
more labour intensive (but free!), you can simply
batch process your wavs to AAC and a roundtrip
objective measurement
plug-in will convert it back to wav for you to AB scale has been developed
the results. The suite also includes tools to check
for clipping. Interestingly Apple suggests that
to shed light on what has
24-bit/96k masters are the submission format traditionally been the
of choice for highest quality encoding seems
someone has been talking to the industry. Their
art of mastering
algorithms and filters are optimised for HD files
and wont create aliasing artifacts upon sample
rate conversion.
THE AIRWAVES
Much like the music industry, the radio industry
is another one locally without any specific
delivery requirements. Each station seems to
run their own preference for ingest although the
largest radio networks do standardise across their
stations for obvious reasons. One of the biggest
networks that Ive had a bit to do with over the
years is DMG and their peak level is -6dBFS for
AT 67
content submitted or created in-house. Other
networks Ive worked with have been at -3dBFS.
VU is king in the radio networks, youll see them
in every studio. VU meters have been discussed
in detail in AT in the past, be sure to dig back
through if you have any niggling questions on
how to best use average/RMS meters like VUs.
Its interesting that in my (albeit limited) research,
with the glacial shift to digital radio this would
be a great time to develop some specs across the
Australian radio industry but so far nothing firm
has emerged. The closest thing to a standard
simply states that advertising should be clearly
recognisable by the listener. For example, the US
specs are for average levels at -15dB RMS and
peaks at -3dBFS typically with speakers set to a
reference level of 83dB SPL of pink noise at 0dB.
SPEAKER CALIBRATION
Moving on from Music and Radio to Film and
TV we start using calibrated speaker levels in
studios. How does this approach differ? Simply,
the engineer is working with his speakers set to
a fixed level for all mixing decisions and often a
large chunk of the editing process (since mixing
and editing are so indelibly linked these days).
This means that a freelance engineer should
be able to walk into any TV/film room in the
country, fire up the system and make informed
mixing decisions from a sense of audio memory
rather than watching meters compulsively. If you
mix at the same level all the time, you get a feel
for where dialogue should sit, or in Music terms,
where the drums/vocal balance should be. This
approach has been standardised in the sound-
for-picture industries for many years.
Reference levels for speaker calibration are
spoken of in terms of how loud you have set
them when pumping pink noise through them
individually. Pink noise is chosen as it represents
even power across the frequency spectrum. The
pink noise is set to -20dB RMS inside your DAW
of choice and then with a handheld SPL meter
you turn your speakers up/down until they are
sitting at the required dB SPL (acoustic level,
c-weighted, slow response), typically 79dB SPL
for small edit suites scaling up to 85dB SPL for
film dubstages. If all this sounds a bit confusing
there are plenty of tutorials online for students to
grapple with setting their studio up to industry
levels that will walk the uninitiated through your
first speaker calibration. Best practice is to use an
analogue SPL meter rather than digital for your
measurement at the mix position.
TELEVISION BROADCAST LEVELS
TV has been going through a fairly serious
amount of change of late. Transmitted picture
sizes have increased massively from standard
definition to 1080 vertical pixels and we have
online streaming services putting pressure on
local channels to fast-track shows from The
States. On the audio side of things a common
complaint in years gone by has been that
advertising was massively louder than the
program it was inserted into, causing listener
AT 68
fatigue and channel surfing to avoid ads. In
answer to this a bunch of research was done and
a new way of monitoring sound has evolved.
Loudness meters are modelled on the behaviour
of the human ear (building on Fletcher-Munson
et al.) and our level of listening fatigue. This is in
part due to specific frequency ranges where our
ears are most sensitive but mostly due to intensity
of audio over time. This is a key difference in how
weve worked in the past.
Heres a simple analogy of how we perceive
loudness. Think of a loud car passing once, its
a bit annoying but you can live with it. Think of
the same car parked in your driveway creating
the same dB SPL for 30 minutes less friendly
to our ears and more likely to be described as
Think of a loud car
passing once, its a bit
annoying but you can live
with it. Think of the same
car parked in your
driveway creating the
same dB SPL for 30
minutes less friendly
to our ears and more
likely to be described as
louder even when
measuring the same peak
dB SPL in both instances
louder even when measuring the same peak dB
SPL in both instances.
Consequently were (very slowly) moving into
a new world driven by loudness specifications.
Overseas specification documents with
impressive names like ITU-R BS.1771, EBU R128
and my personal favourite the USAs CALM
Act (Commercial Advertisement Loudness
Mitigation) embodied in ATSC 85 are ratifying
new scales of measurement and metering for us.
MEASURING LOUDNESS
Various metering salespeople would have you
believe that loudness measurement is a brand
new thing, but thats not the case. Empirical
loudness measurement has been around for some
time in various forms, although the development
and understanding of loudness has certainly
escalated in the last five years. Dolby has used
the Loudness scale equalised for Movie loudness/
annoyance or Leq(M) scale in their cinema ad
program for some years. Loudness equalised to
A-weighting or Leq(A) was the earliest of the
recent crop of loudness specs to be ratified. It
was rapidly replaced by Loudness K-weighted
Full Scale or LKFS as a measurement of loudness
as the human ear perceives it. Many broadcast
specs currently use the LKFS model including the
Australian FreeTV document Operating Practices
59 which dictates programs should be mixed to
measure an overall loudness of -24LKFS. Where
the US and Australia are referring to loudness
in terms of LKFS, the Europeans use Loudness
Units Full Scale or LUFS. Originally these
measured slightly different, but LKFS has been
modified slightly in BS 1770-2 so it should now
read the same as a LUFS measurement.
MIXING TO A LOUDNESS SPEC
In mixing for TV and incorporating loudness
measurement, the simplest thing to do is
download a piece of dialogue that measures
-24LKFS, play it on your system and modify your
speaker level to suit for comfortable mixing by
ear as youve always done. In doing this most
engineers may move from the traditional 79dB
speaker level to as low as 76dB or as high as 82dB
depending on the acoustics of the space, the type
of speaker, how big the room is and how loud the
engineer usually mixes.
Another approach would be to simply do what
you have always done. At the end of the mix, run
a loudness measurement over the program and
due to dBFS and loudness being inter-related
specs, you can simply normalise up or down
by the number you are out by for example
your program ends up measuring -21 LKFS
so you drop the overall gain by 3dB and it will
read -24LKFS on next measurement, ready for
submission. This obviously drops your peak
levels by 3dB as well so your takeaway would be
to compress a little less in future to meet specs,
opening up your dynamic range a little.
TWIN PEAKS
Peak levels have been our main reference for
many years, measured in various ways. As
broadcast moves into LKFS specifications and
loudness measurement an opportunity arose
to deal with another problem that has haunted
transmission for some years intersample
peaks. An intersample peak refers to a digital
signal that is technically within spec, perhaps
measuring -10dBFS precisely when its hitting the
limit, but on conversion from digital to analogue
for play out through a transmission chain, the
digital signal actually peaks over -10dB in the
analogue realm. This problem has largely been
created by heavy use of limiters in the digital
domain. Consequently we now have meters for
use inside our DAWs to measure true peak or
intersample peak, so we are setting our digital
limiters to accurately meet specs in the analogue
domain. There are also a few intersample peak
limiters now appearing on the market for this exact reason
which would replace a traditional limiter coupled with
monitoring a true peak meter.
Unfortunately Australia has yet to embrace the intersample peak
side of the new specs and we are left with half of the revolution
loudness specs but without the dynamic range that they
promise, as most broadcasters are still insisting on peaks under
-10dBFS rather than -3 True Peak (TP) as is the trend overseas.
This is due to our legacy analogue transmission chain which has
yet to be switched off. Hopefully this will change in the new year
with a fully digital network.
Its also important to note that these specifications for -10dBFS
peaks and -24LKFS loudness only relate to stereo material at
present. If you are submitting a surround program for broadcast
there currently is no specification for this in Australia. What we
hear on the Dolby Digital stream should be the original 5.1 mix
for the program, which may have cinema-style dynamic range.
MIXING FOR CINEMA
Cinema is the most controlled listening environment and
consequently has the most allowed dynamic range, which in a
way means the content is the least controlled. Peaks can reach
as high as 0dB and dialogue will sit 15-20dB below that. Cinema
standards are governed by reproduction level, by the level of
the replay system, as opposed to the content of the audio signal. THE CONFERENCE PHONE,

EVOLVED
This has led to a loudness war of sorts in the cinema of late. A
properly calibrated cinema will set its Dolby Cinema Processor
(a box that decodes Dolby signals and provides a room EQ
curve) to volume level 7, which equates to 85dB SPL when
situated two-thirds of the way back into the room. In Australia,
most multiplexes have pulled that level down as low as level 5,
giving a reduction of nearly 7dB across the board. This means
that quiet scenes of dialogue are 7dB lower than intended,
to compensate for explosions that are too loud in US mixes. Revolabs has redefined the traditional design of
The effect of turning the level down on mixes also strips those
moments of their punch. Aussie films often suffer most from
conference phones. FLX is comprised of several distinct
this problem as interesting detail in ambiences and surrounds components giving you unprecedented freedom with
that make such a difference for the typical Aussie drama are lost
respect to placement and accessibility of the speaker,
when the film is played too quietly.
microphones and dial pad. FLX is wireless and simple to
In the past, Dolby were the arbiters of quality control on the
mix levels but that is disappearing as Digital Cinema Packages set up making it the perfect choice for any mid to small
(DCP) become the standard method of film distribution a
sized conference room.
DCP replays six or eight uncompressed wav files (one per
channel) as opposed to a Dolby proprietary stream which would
have been encoded onto film in the past.
Word is that Dolby is trying to remedy the problem. Their new Stylish design
format, Dolby Atmos, is a groundbreaking system of object-
Wireless freedom
based reproduction. This means a mix can be played in a
traditional 5.1 cinema, in a full-blown, 64-channel Dolby Atmos Bluetooth integration
Scan the QR
room, or anything in between, as Dolbys new range of cinema Superior audio quality
processors will assess each rooms specific speaker layout and
Code to watch
format, and use that information to intelligently position each Simple set-up (with video tutorial) the FLX video
element of the audio content into the room. Theres rumour
that the new range of cinema processors may incorporate some
loudness control as well to standardise reproduction levels but
this isnt confirmed as yet. Fingers crossed!

For your nearest dealer:

Call 1300 13 44 00 or
visit www.audioproducts.com.au

AT 69
 REGULARS

MAC NOTES
iWish: Some iPad
wishful thinking.

Column: Anthony Garvin

Since the iPad was introduced a couple of years ago,
there have been many interesting music apps
developed covering a vast area of music production: drum
machines, synthesizers, effects units, seemingly limitless
DAW controllers, plus GarageBand itself. However, Im
questioning why there still arent some software tools
available for the iPad that could be put to excellent use on
this technology. Here is my wish list....
At the top of my list for iPad apps is Ableton Live. The
unique hands-on aspect of Live, combined with the success
of controllers like the APC, Launchpad, and other iOS
controllers like Griid all say something obvious the
iPad itself would be an ideal platform for Live! You have
a relatively cheap, reliable and hi-tech touch surface on
top of a CPU that compares to a computer of only a few
years ago, how would it not work? How would it not be
awesome?! Abletons unique session view in my opinion
its distinguishing feature would come aLive on the iPads
touch screen. It would make an excellent sketch pad for
starting a project when inspiration hits and then transferring
to your desktop computer for editing and final mixing later.
But on the other hand, with audio interfaces like the RME
Fireface now functional on the iPad, perhaps it could even
become a complete Ableton studio tool itself?
IPAD TOOL BAG
The next item on my wish list, or perhaps we should say
firing line, is Pro Tools. Ok, expecting a Pro Tools HD-
like system to run on an iPad is crazy (though it wont be
one day soon), but how about something like Pro Tools
GarageBand? GarageBand is a simplified version of Logic
that offers compatibility to its bigger brother desktop
application; can we please have similar iOS software for
Pro Tools users? Or something else to think about how
many Pro Tools users spend time on their laptops between
sessions tuning, editing, drum replacing, beat detecting, etc,
etc? What about four different versions of Pro Tools iPad
that focused on these tasks? Pro Tools iTune, Pro Tools
iEdit, Pro Tools iReplace and Pro Tools iDetect perhaps?
The pinch, swipe, zoom interaction on the iPhone and iPad
has resonated with its users so well that Apple has now
implemented this functionality on their computer hardware.
Imagine what this control could do for us when editing!
We could pinch zoom on a waveform, swipe to scrub, tap-
hold to select, double tap to cut and so on, and so forth.
The interface has the potential to immensely speed up our
workflows on those repetitive tasks.
Ok, Im going to review my expectations. Perhaps the
development time is so immense that they are already
working on it and we just need to wait a little longer?
HAND OVER CONTROL
In the meantime, lets go back to basics. I mentioned the
huge variety of MIDI style DAW controllers available for
iPad earlier. But there are a few apps missing... Where is
Avids own controller for Pro Tools? Steinbergs custom
Cubase Controller? Apples specific Logic controller?
Well over a decade ago, Mackie had a revolutionary idea
of combining a mixing consoles ergonomics with the
power of a DAW in the form of the HUI. The idea was
refined and within a few years the technology had hit
it big, with many hardware brands creating their own
DAW controllers. In 2004 the Lemur was released, which
operated remarkably like an iPad (with a touch screen
for controlling MIDI commands) and really got us geeks
salivating (it has also been released for iOS). But really,
what revolutions in DAW/MIDI controller technology
have we had in the last few years?
So, what if we took some of the editing workflow ideas
mentioned above, combined them with the concept
of a DAW controller and had the inside knowledge,
understanding and access to the DAW code? We could
have a controller that blends a hands-on console-like
experience, with the editing finesse of a mouse and
the feedback of a high-resolution screen all on the
iPad. Editing a waveform on an iPad could be so easy...
controlling multiple parameters on a plug-in that is
actually the plug-in on your iPad would be creatively
invigorating! Automation could be both fast and hands on.
MIDI sequencing would become less technical and more
musical. (While we wait for this, check out V-Control by
Neyrinck this is the closest Ive seen to this concept
with their V-Window, but it lacks the elegance and finesse
that could be achieved if these apps were made by the
same developers as the desktop software.)
As tablet and smartphone technology continues to
improve and proliferate, we will see the use of desktops
decrease in India already, mobile internet traffic has
surpassed desktop Internet usage but for the foreseeable
future desktops will still have a place in music and audio
production. However, why not make better use of this
technology that is currently so accessible (and so cheap) to
improve our workflows and bring more creativity into our
interaction with the software?
What do you think? What is on your app wish list?

AT 70
A Perfect Match
YOUR ENTRY TO PROFESSIONAL DYNACORD LIVE SOUND

FIR FILTER

PASSIVE

SPEAKER

ACTIVE SPEAKER

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These loudspeakers make ideal companions for small to
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within reach of smaller budgets and offer features you
would never expect in this range.
Equipped exclusively with high-quality components,
A-Line loudspeakers stand apart in their class thanks
to their high power-handling capacities and 15mm-thick
plywood cabinets that are as light as they are robust. Their
asymmetrical footprint also makes them a convenient
option for floor monitors.
Powerful, lightweight amplifier modules featuring state-of-the-art DSP
FIR filters providing enhanced frequency linearisation and improved
slew rates between MF and HF drivers
Monitor operation mode switch enhances audibility with less risk of
feedback
Low-cut filter yields greater clarity and protects your satellites when
used with a sub.
Ideally suited to all PowerMate or CMS mixers.
A perfect match!
Scan the QR code with your smartphone
for more information on the Dynacord
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Bosch Communications Systems

25 Huntingwood Drive HUNTINGWOOD NSW 2148
Ph: (02) 9683 4752 Fax: (02) 9890 5928
Email: boschcomms@au.bosch.com AT 71
Web: www.boschcommunications.com.au
 REGULARS
PC AUDIO
Whats the most suitable PC
format for the musician
desktop, laptop, or tablet?
Column: Martin Walker
Lots of musicians, DJs and producers now
routinely use PC laptops, because they let
you make music on the move, collaborate more
easily with other musicians, and perform live
without having to cart around several heavy flight
cases full of gear. Although Windows 8 itself is
still getting mixed press and its touchy-feely
interface is beginning to be seen as a huge gamble
for Microsoft, I do expect the PC tablet to
become a far more common format among
musicians in the future, because a multi-touch
graphic interface can be ideal for real-time sound
and music creation, arranging and mixing, as
well as looking so much better to the live
audience than being seen to click a few keys.
However, apart from perhaps acting as MIDI
controllers, I doubt that the cheaper PC tablets
running the lightweight Windows RT operating
system and its associated apps will prove
particularly popular among musicians a
far more likely alternative is a tablet running
Windows 8 and the standard Windows audio
applications that we already know and love such
as Cubase, FL Studio, AudioMulch, Reaper, and
Sonar. Some industry pundits predict that tablets
will outsell desktops in 2013, and theres no doubt
that mainstream users already prefer laptops to
desktops because they take up less room, require
fewer cables and can be quickly packed away in
a cupboard when space is at a premium. Having
said that, the desktop PC format (in most cases
more accurately described as a floor-mounted
tower or rack-mounted system) remains the
most expandable and upgradeable alternative for
studio use when you want a workhorse that will
last the course for some years.
FLIPPING THROUGH OPTIONS
Meanwhile, the desktop, laptop and tablet
formats have been morphing into fresh formats,
so lets take a look at some of the alternatives
from the musicians point of view. One natty
option is the new flipover tablet/laptop hybrid
format of the Lenovo Yoga fold its hinge one
way for a traditional laptop experience; or bend
AT 72
it almost 360 degrees the other way to use as a
touch-screen tablet. Another similar approach
comes from Dell with its XPS Duo 12, whose
touch-screen flips over within a frame for laptop
or tablet duties. I can see these formats proving
popular with musicians who sometimes need to
do lots of fine editing, but want more hands-on
flexibility for live use.
While iPad competitors tend to stick with a 7-10-
inch diagonal tablet display, other manufacturers
are exploring different visions of the PC touch-
screen future. The Asus Transformer Prime
tablet can plug into a keyboard dock accessory
that morphs it into a laptop-type device, while
Gigabyte manages to combine 11.6-inch
notebook, multi-touch tablet and desktop
formats with its Booktop T1132 PC model using
a rotatable docking station. However, Intel has
pushed the size boundaries somewhat further
with their latest Adaptive All-In-One prototype.
This can be used as a standard desktop PC with
a keyboard and mouse interface, or its generous
27-inch screen can be detached from the
charging dock and transformed into a standalone
touch-sensitive tablet that runs for about four
hours on battery power. The 2.5-inch thick screen
incorporates an optical drive, and can either be
used horizontally for communal games (I suspect
it would also make a wonderful audio controller
or replacement for a mixing desk), or hung on a
wall to watch TV or films. The main drawback at
this stage is the weight at almost 6.5kgs its not
exactly portable, although Intel are working with
screen and battery manufacturers to reduce this.
GET IT TOGETHER
Moreover, if youre fed up hiding a tower case
next to your feet or taking up space in your rack,
more streamlined desktop PCs are also appearing
that incorporate the guts of the PC into the
monitor and its stand. This all-in-one approach
has often been seen on the Apple platform
(on the original 80s Macs and various iMac
models for instance), but now that Windows
8 incorporates extensive touchscreen support
some manufacturers are also coming up with
slick all-in-one PC designs. For instance, the
Hewlett Packard Spectre One features a 23.6-
inch aluminium display thats a slim 0.45-inches
thick, incorporating an Ivy Bridge processor,
1GB Nvidia graphics card, and up to 2TB storage
with SSD option. It ships with a matching
aluminium keyboard and wireless touchpad that
sits alongside the keyboard to help you navigate
through Windows 8. Its all-aluminium design
looks extremely upmarket, and you may well
manage with its two USB 2.0 and two USB 3.0
ports if your audio interface is a USB model,
although the all-in-one approach does of course
preclude internal expansion slots.
Some musicians may find the cheaper Hewlett
Packard Envy 20 and 23 models of more interest,
since these incorporate touch-screens, Ivy Bridge
processors and up to 3TB of storage, although I
still have reservations about touchscreens on a
desktop machine where you dont get the option
of laying the screen flat or at a slight angle to
the horizontal as you can with a tablet. After
all, youll always get a better stereo image if you
can keep your monitor screen out of the line
of fire of your loudspeakers, either by moving
it further away to sit between (rather than in
front of) them, or laying it down out of the way.
I also doubt that many people could use a larger
near vertical touch-screen for any length of time
without getting aching arms, while of course a
horizontal touch-screen mimics the mixing desk
so much better.
Ultimately your choice of PC will be determined
to some extent by how much processing power,
storage capacity and expandability potential
you need, and although I still rely on the floor-
mounted tower because its so easy to open up
and add more hard drives, RAM, solid state
drives, soundcards and so on, Im fairly sure
that this format will eventually become a bit of a
dinosaur as mainstream users enter the touching
times. Lets hope that desktops dont become
more expensive as a result!
Stavs shortcuts
to great sounds!
techniques
WOW, what an amazing book. I've put a few of your
to use with amazing results. Could you write a
doctors note for my boss? He wonders why I'm late getting in
and early leaving every day ... Recording is so much fun again!
Jeff Jeske - Alberta, Canada

This book is simply awesome!!! I feel like all my old equipment

is brand new and I'm using them for the first time with the
enthusiasm of a kid opening Christmas presents!!
Atte Peltomki - Helsinki, Finland

This is simply the best book on recording I've ever read, and

I've read a few over the last 20 years.
Chris Putnam - Montclair, NJ USA

Get the book: www.mixingwithyourmind.com

AT 73
 REVIEW

LINE 6 STAGESCAPE M20D

Line 6s take on the digital console screens a
whole new way of staging a mix.
Review: Mark Woods

TOUCH & LISTEN

The silver winged operating surface features a touch
screen somewhere between an iPad and an iPhone in
size (though not quite iPad Mini, theres still room in
the market for another size yet, Apple Ed).

BUTTON UP
Below the screen are 12 illuminated multi-
function controllers. The five buttons on
the left hand wing toggle between different
modes, on the right wing there are two mute
buttons, and the large rotary knob controls
the main output level.

PRICE PROS CONS SUMMARY

NEED TO KNOW

$3299 New mix methodology is fun No EQ on outputs Line6 has really broken the live mixing mould with the Stagescape.
On-board FX/EQ/dynamics No faders Turning a technical task into more of a touchy intuitive one, and
CONTACT
Easy to learn potentially educating a generation in a different way with its touch
Australis Music Group
and drag tweak modes. Just expect them to use more wishy-washy
(02) 9698 4444
words to describe sound afterwards.
sales@australismusic.com.au

AT 74
 The digital revolution continues. It began with effects options. It defaults to the Quick Tweak mode with
products that replaced traditional analogue consoles a tweak pad to touch and drag the sound through various
and racks of outboard gear, but now seems to be moving EQ/dynamic options that are laid out in simple language.
laterally with the development of remote iPad control For instance the EQ section has neutral in the middle
devices and different ways of looking at how live sound is of the pad and the descriptions full, project, air and
managed. The Line 6 Stagescape M20d exemplifies this clarity in the corners. By dragging your finger towards the
change by re-defining what live mixers can be. Designed descriptions the EQ changes to settings that match.
primarily for artists/bands to mix themselves, or for bands
Its certainly gimmicky but its been well-calibrated to ensure
that nobody wants to mix, it combines an operating surface
the settings are not radical enough to throw the thing into
unlike any mixer I can think of with innovative connection
feedback or render the channel unusable. By selecting
and control concepts.
Deep Tweak its possible to access the parameters in more
ITS ALL A GAME detail or in fact, the detail engineers would be most
The M20d looks like a gaming console, with only the top familiar with and parameters can be changed by either
panel of audio sockets hinting that its an audio device. In the touchscreen or the multifunction controllers below
some ways, its both. In setup mode, the screen displays the screen.
a virtual stage surrounded by roughly grouped icons with
Users who are familiar with other digital consoles will
setup and channel information across the top, and others
be right at home here but casual users or non-technical
below the stage that represent common types of band
musicians will probably prefer to stay in Quick Tweak.
members and instruments, which can be tapped or dragged
Settings arrived at by using the tweak pad can be seen by
onto the stage its like audio Sim-City. Below them are 12
switching to Deep Tweak, so users have the opportunity
labeled controller strips corresponding to the 12 multi-
to learn while they tweak. A handy educational tool, and
function controller knobs below the screen. The drag n
perhaps everyone could then speak the same language when
drop architecture is markedly different to every other audio
describing how something sounds. The same procedures
console... and dare I say it, its fun!
can be applied to the dynamic processors, although the
SENSITIVE TO OUTSIDE INPUT simple language descriptions in Quick Tweak are not as
Most of the connections are familiar enough. The M20d intuitive as they are for the EQ section, and closer listening
has 12 XLR/1/4-inch combo-socket mic inputs plus four is required to hear what the processing is doing. Four
-inch line input sockets. All are auto-sensing, as are effects are available per channel including two reverbs,
the four XLR monitor outs and XLR left/right main outs. modulation effects and delay. The levels of these effects can
Individual, switchable phantom power is available on the be accessed in both the setup and tweak modes, and the
mic inputs. Two -inch footswitch sockets are a giveaway parameters changed in either of the two tweak modes.
as to who Line 6 envisions will end up operating the M20d,
MIXING A LA MODE
and can be easily configured to control effects muting,
Entering record mode allows configuration of the recording
scene changes, media player stop/start/next track or to
and playback options and access to the handy 20 second
activate the on-board Quick Capture recorder that records
Quick Capture mode that can be used for grabbing a part
up to 20 seconds of all channels to the M20ds internal
of a song and replaying it at soundcheck to check balances,
memory. Other in/out/record options include an SD card
etc. Monitor mode controls the level of each channel in the
slot, and two USB ports for connecting external devices
four monitor sends, and effects can be sent to the monitors
for either record or playback. Theres a headphone socket
if desired. Perform mode is for showtime and allows
with level knob and a 1/8-inch Aux input. The final socket
control of level, pan and effects levels. There are plenty of
is labeled L6 Link and this proprietary system enables L6
ways of grabbing levels in a hurry if you need to. Individual
Link compatible products (Line 6 StageSource speakers for
channels are accessed by touching the relevant channel icon
instance) to be automatically configured and controlled by
on the controller strips in all modes except tweak and each
the M20d.
channels level can be accessed in all modes except monitor.
The auto-sensing input sockets know when a mic or Thankfully, the master level control always works.
instrument is plugged in and automatically brings up a
generic mic icon. The corresponding level knob lights
up and if you turn it and the master level knob up, ta da!
You get sound. Its much easier than most digital desks,
where the routing can be like navigating the backstreets
of Bangkok for the unfamiliar. The generic icon can be
replaced by a preset icon, which can come ready-laden with
things like reverb already attached and operating, and level
control. And the instrument icons are pre-EQd with typical
settings; kick drum has added low end and compression
for instance. Input level (trim) can be set both manually and
by using Autotrim, which prompts you to put a loud level
into the mic on cue and the M20d decides the correct level.
Setting input gain levels is often confusing for people with
limited engineering experience and this is a handy feature.
GETTING TWEAKY
Once the instruments/vocals are connected to the M20d
they can be individually accessed by entering tweak mode,
which offers a comprehensive range of EQ/dynamics/

AT 75

Wireless control via iPad is possible with the optional USB Wi-Fi
adapter and free SoundScape software, and could be used to
either set monitor levels on stage or tweak channels from around
the room.
CAUGHT IN THE ACT
Acts wanting to use the M20d can set their channels, levels,
effects etc, using either pre-set or custom settings, then plug
into their own or any other system, set a master level, and
perform. Tweaks can be made wirelessly via an iPad or on the
unit itself. Settings for different songs can be stored as scenes and
activated via footswitch, and settings for different venues can be
stored as setups.
It all sounds great in theory but I do worry about a few aspects
of bands running their own sound. Static settings might work
some of the time, for some acts, but the subtle changes made
by a responsible sound mixer following the music is not really
replaceable. By contrast, band members with toys are not always
subtle; Im always apprehensive when acts present any devices of
their own they want included in the signal chain, like the singer
who brings an auto-harmonise device or a distortion pedal. I just
know its going to sound like crap, cause level feedback issues and
impose itself on the sound Im trying to control. On the other
hand if Im not there I guess its up to the band to work out what
works and what doesnt.
NOT CHEAP
The cost is also a consideration. Digital consoles are getting
cheaper and its possible to buy devices for half what the M20d
is selling for. Other consoles may not be as much fun but they
provide similar functionality and for the average technically-
challenged musician theres going to be a fair amount of learning
Line 6 lets you draw broad strokes between punch and pump,
but underneath you can get into some deep tweaking.
AT 76
required to confidently operate any console. I also wonder what
would happen in a situation where a channel stopped working or
developed a noise. It takes longer to trouble-shoot menu-driven
devices. Using rotary knobs to control levels is another limitation.
Its OK for set-and-forget situations; the encoders are well labeled
and easy to tweak, but when I mix I constantly ride the faders as
required and knobs dont give the same feel or fine control of the
level. If a band using the M20d wanted to do a show with a sound
engineer, it would be difficult for them to drive it from the knobs.
If the M20d had faders Id use it as a FOH desk for small shows
because its small, light and has heaps of processing, but without
faders its less appealing.
Of course my concerns are mainly from a sound mixers
viewpoint. While I was showing the M20d around I had a lot
of positive feedback from artists who really liked the idea of
being able to create settings that worked for them and being
able to apply them wherever they perform. Acts without mixing
people are often in situations where they have to figure out
systems themselves. That can be frustrating, and may affect
their performance, but if they are using the M20d, they can
recall scenes for different songs, and make use of its multi-band
feedback suppressor to keep things from getting out of control.
The only head-scratching moment might be figuring out how to
connect it to the speakers/amps. Though if they subscribe to the
Line 6 methodology end-to-end, then the L6 Link connectors and
a compatible pair of powered Line 6 speakers will take care of that
for them.
DIFFERENT WAY
The Line 6 SoundScape M20d is fun, it looks great, and its
certainly a different way of mixing. To my ear the sound
quality is not quite as good as the best digital consoles, theres
some graininess and the quality of the delay in particular is
only fair, but its quite OK for the intended use. There will still
be a learning curve for new users but once familiar with the
way it works they should be able to make adjustments quickly
and confidently. It will appeal to the countless number of acts
that dont want, or cant afford, their own sound mixer. Or
acts that have had bad experiences with sound engineers and
prefer to control their own sound. Theres enough channels
and functionality for most small bands, duos etc, and some
clever design tricks to make life easier, such as the auto-sensing
inputs, tweak pad, scene recalls and multi-channel feedback
suppression. Its price is higher than some other options, though
not so high that it will be prohibitive to those who see the value
in its functionality and touch-screen aesthetics.
 Party in the Business in the
front. back.

K Series KLA Series KW Series

The K Family didnt become the #1-selling line of loudspeakers* in the U.S. just by showing
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qsc.com

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*Among all brands in retail dollar sales. Source: MI SalesTrak, 2010-2011

2012 QSC Audio Products, LLC. All rights reserved. QSC and the QSC logo are registered trademarks of QSC Audio Products, LLC in the U.S. Patent and Trademark office

and other countries. MI SalesTrak is a registered trademark of Marketing Information Services, Inc. in the U.S. Patent office.

AT 77
 REVIEW

Arturia V Collection 3.0

Arturia has stuffed nine vintage synth emulations and 30 vintage
drum machines into its updated V Collection, and given the one-stop
production shop a bunch of new moves.
Review: Robert Clark

The V Collection 3.0 is the latest version of

Arturias bundle of virtual analogue synths.
For the uninitiated, its all about the faithful
almost fanatical emulation of some of the
classic analogue synths that helped shape the
music world over the past fifty-odd years.
Instruments such as the Moog Modular and Mini
Moog, the Prophet V and the CS-80 are
responsible for some of the best music and
worst dance-moves in history, and Arturia are
making them available to a new generation of
music-makers who probably havent touched
wood-panelling in their lives.
Each of the synths sound and look pretty
convincing in most regards. They are all 32- and
64-bit compatible, work in any DAW as well as
in stand-alone mode, and have enough presets
to keep you indoors for days. Most of them also The Modular V
possess a new method of selecting between presets
called the Sound Map. It offers up a virtual galaxy The famously imposing Moog Modular synth. If you the rate and scale of tuning frequencies. Theres
of presets spread out in space and represented prefer leather elbow-pads to leather jackets, then quite a few additions that werent in the original,
this is your kind of thing. The first difference users too, such as Sample and Hold and an Envelope
by different shapes and colours according to of Arturias original reproduction will notice is that Follower that can be used on external sources.
their characteristics. I first thought this was a you can now see all of the modules on screen at Simulated cabling is nothing new in music software
bit gimmicky to be honest, but it actually does once (provided youve got the screen real-estate), of course, but I think its worth noting that Arturia
improve on the usual method of selecting presets, which is certainly a lot better for work-flow and has done a good job of giving it an authentic feel
those periods of frenetic experimentation where whilst also adding in some helpful advantages
where you scroll down lengthy lists of names you splash cables about like Jackson Pollock over the real thing. For example, you can insert
and categories. This is just one of the numerous attacking a canvas. Arturia has also added new more than one cable into any input or output,
updates and enhancements that Arturia has made modules that theyve either invented or that were which expands the capabilities of the synth
to these synths though. Heres a look at each of once available as additions to the original analogue immeasurably and also allows you to make short
them in a bit more detail. synth. The Bode Frequency Shifter was one such cuts (purists will not indulge I imagine). Also helpful
accessory that, back in the day, could be ordered is that it wont allow you to insert a cable where
from the manufacturer to install by yourself at it doesnt belong, such as linking two inputs for
home (when men were men I guess). I found it example, which I imagine will save novices and pros
particularly handy as it allows you to easily and alike many hours of head-scratching in the wee
powerfully fatten-up your tones by adding a little hours of the morning.
phase shifting, or create extra colour by tweaking

The Mini V
If youd prefer to work with three oscillators
instead of the Modulars nine, and you prefer
a few knobs and dials to a maze of cables, the
Mini V is a good option. This is of course, why it
became so popular and why weve been hearing
it in the pop world from the seventies right up to
now. When you start playing with the Mini V you
also appreciate how simply its laid out. Unlike the
Moog Modular, its also quite easy to plot the path
of your signal and keep track of your tweaks. So
everything is there that current or past owners
of the analogue synth will expect, plus a couple
of extra buttons such as an on/off switch for
polyphony, soft-clipping, unison and legato. You
cant escape the major addition, however, which
is the panel that pops up when youre in extended
mode. Here you can play with some pretty
impressive modulation tools, such as the Motion
Recorder which displays a graphic interface that
gives you the ability to draw freehand envelopes
in real-time to manipulate up to four different
parameters. I found this to be a lot of fun, and
handy in that you can begin creating very complex
sounds straight away as soon as youve
selected what type of waveform you want to build
from. Also included in extended mode is a formant
filter called the Vocal Filter, which I also found
to be a very quick and powerful tool; particularly
with the addition of a hard-wired LFO that can
easily automate variation within it. Other bonuses
include an extra LFO, arpeggiator, chorus and
delay FX, and a Modulation Matrix which allows
for up to eight modulation connections from a
variety of sources including externals.

AT 78
The CS-80 V
For me the CS-80 is one of those
synths that you just want to touch.
Setting aside the famous sounds
that have emanated from it (Stevie
Wonder, Brian Eno etc.), those daggy,
brightly coloured paddles just beg to
be fondled, and the ribbon controller
is much more satisfying to use with
your fingertips than a mouse. Still,
very few of us are lucky enough to
own the real thing, so if there is a good
emulation of one out there its worth
knowing about. The CS-80 V seems
about as close as you could get to
the real thing. It looks and sounds as
good as I could have hoped (well, it
passed my do I feel like Im Vangelis
scoring an eighties sci-fi film?-test).
It is a bit curious that those terrifically
cheap-looking but indispensable
preset buttons that were originally
(ambitiously?) labelled Clavichord,
Guitar, Harpsichord etc have been
replaced with just the numbers 1 to 12.
Im not sure if it was a resolution thing
The Jupiter 8V
I first encountered the Jupiter 8
when my music-technology lecturer
wowed his class of music-nerds and
BA weirdos with its acoustic charms.
The first thing we did was make a
bird-call, which wasnt exactly phat,
but it did show me that this synth
is capable of some very cool sound
design in addition to the rich musical
tones you hear from Depeche Mode
to Moby. So its many different
things to many different people,
which is testament to its flexibility
and power. Unlike other synths in
the V Collection 3.0, the extras that
Arturia has created for the Jupiter 8
soft-synth havent been embedded
so lovingly into the virtual console.
The extension panel appears
smoothly from behind the original
The Prophet V
The original Prophet V was and
remains incredibly popular, but
anyone who has owned one will
testify to its susceptibility to
de-tuning and the difficulty in
repairing any faults. Not to mention
the lack of MIDI in/out of course.
The beautiful thing about software
synths is that those issues are no
longer present and, at least in theory,
were all free to just create to our
hearts content. Perhaps the biggest
advantage of Arturias Prophet 5,
though, is that it comes bundled with
the Prophet VS, which can be used
independently or as a hybrid unit with
the 5. So its almost exponentially
but it wouldve been nice to see them
stay, not just for reasons of nostalgia
but because they were always useful
as an anchor point for building sounds.
In addition to all of the standard
features, Arturia has significantly
beefed up its multi-timbral capability
with a modulation matrix that
allows you to re-direct sounds
from 12 different sources to 38
different destinations for up to 10
different modulations. So you can
route LFOs, EQ filters and even
the ribbon to frequency envelopes,
noise generators, VCOs or VCAs with
relative ease, just dont forget to
sleep at some point. Theres also a
Multi-Mode which allows you to assign
sounds to each of your polyphonic
voices and also to create a key-map;
which seems a particularly good idea.
I am a fan of the functionality of this
addition and also the way in which
Arturia has made the whole panel
fit-in stylistically.
edifice, but it looks decidedly digital
and takes away from the whole
vintage feel in my opinion. But thats
really being picky. For me one of the
highlights of this extra panel lies
within the modulations tab, where
there is an effect called Galaxy. It
includes three interconnected LFOs
that modify different parameters
on an X and Y axis, which sounds
complicated, but once you get in
there and have a play you discover
some great effects, and the little
graphic display helps a bit in figuring
out what youre doing. Theres also a
step sequencer which I found to have
some cool options, such as being
able to hand draw envelopes along
your sequence to shape melody or a
number of other parameters.
superior to either original model in
terms of programming power and
flexibility. The original Prophet VS
was also a tricky beast to program,
mostly because all the modulation
was happening underneath a panel
of bland buttons with limited
information appearing on its tiny
screen. I found Arturias re-imagining
of the interface a bit more friendly,
although the modulation matrix
took a bit of head-scratching. Still
present, though, is the joystick for
mixing your four oscillators together,
which is both very effective and
quintessentially 80s in style. Thank
God they kept that in.
AT 79

This is, in effect, the expansion of
an expansion module, so as you
can imagine there is a lot of sonic
possibilities offered here. As much
as the Synthesiser Expander Module
was capable of enhancing other
synths, it was its own sounds that
made it famous, so if Arturia didnt
get that right they wouldve been in
trouble. Consequently they seem
to have paid a lot of attention to
the multimode 12dB/octave filter
responsible for those sounds and
the result is quite impressive. You
can pretty quickly find those bass
lines that made the SEM famous,
which is the real acid test I think.
Also, the simplicity of the original
units layout was a true thing of
beauty, so its great to see that
Arturia has kept that understated
yet powerful feel with the SEM V by
only adding one panel on either side
The Oberheim SEM V
for their additional effects knobs.
Arturia has also hidden its fancy new
modulations and effects features on
a pop-up screen display that can be
hidden (although, like the Jupiter 8V,
it doesnt fit stylistically). It could
have been much worse. When Tom
Oberheim and his associates first
decided to expand the modules
capability to eight-voice polyphony,
the result was a mammoth unit that
basically welded together eight
individual SEMs, which on paper
made sense I guess, but in practical
terms was pretty insane. Using the
SEM V in its basic form is simply
joyful. I think part of Oberheims
success was that he combined
powerful modulation possibilities
with a straight-forward, pleasing user
experience, and for my money, that
has been nicely retained here.

There are lots of thoughtful features
in the Wurlitzer V that are worth a
mention. Its one of those instruments
thats brilliant in the real world but
has been sub-par in the virtual,
so Arturia have made an effort to
give as much authenticity to the
experience as they can, which I for
one appreciate. For example, you
can toggle the amount of hardness
and/or noise of the key hammers,
and even note-off and pedal noise.
These features will really help if
youre writing something that has to
feel grounded in your mix. On that
note, the fact that you can choose
your output to be either direct, or
coming out of a Leslie or guitar amp,
is pretty useful, and if you go the
The Wurlitzer V
amp option you can choose from a
couple of well-known mics on or off
axis. The choice of mics, amps and
positions is somewhat limited, but
at least you have them right there
within the interface. Effects are
housed in pedals that appear below
the keyboard itself, which I thought
was a nice touch, and the sounds
you get from it arguably the most
important feature are convincingly
rich, dirty, and everything else a
Wurlitzer needs to be. Its so much fun
toggling through the presets, which
are comprehensive in terms of style
and variation, that you can and will
spend many, many hours beating your
MIDI keyboard senseless. For me this
is a real highlight of the package.

PRICE PROS CONS SUMMARY

$499 Even more incredible value Some out of place GUI The addition of Wurlitzer V and Oberheim SEM V emulations should be enough to
NEED TO KNOW

than version 2 additions consider the upgrade from version 2. But add the Spark VDM analogue-modelled
CONTACT
Accurate emulations, even (not sampled) drum machine, and the inclusion of Analogue Laboratory in the
CMI
the new Wurly package for convenient mixing and matching of the extensive library, and Arturias V
(03) 9315 2244 or
Spark modelling allows Collection 3.0 is an absolute steal. Thats not even going into the extended mode and
cmi@cmi.com.au
core tweaks of vintage automation updates.
drum machines
Additional modes and
automation expand palette

AT 80
SAVE A BUNDLE
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Say hello to the best deal youll find all year.
The sE Electronics X1 Studio Bundle includes:
The Reflexion filter, the hugely popular sE X1 large diaphragm
cardioid condenser microphone, the latest shockmount and
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Bundle Includes:
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t: 03.9555.8081
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w: www.sound-music.com
SoundMusicDistribution
SoundAndMusic1 AT 81
 The ARP2600 V
Imagine the hide Id have to give
an appraisal of this semi-modular
synths merits. Its one of the
most lauded analogue machines
in the history of music. On a
fundamental waveform level, to
me the replicated tones are very
convincing. Notable is that the
famous 16-step sequencer, the 1601
is included by default, and as far as
the original features are concerned,
its all there. In addition youll find
chorus and delay effects and a
module that pretty much is the Mini
Vs Motion Recorder but theyve
called it the Tracking Generator
and made it fit aesthetically with
the overall look of the synth.

The Analogue Laboratory

There really is such a thing as too
much choice, and with nine vintage
synths to decide between youd go
mad trying to find the exact sound
youre looking for by going through
them one by one. Therefore, were
I to be the owner of a V Collection
3.0, I would start with the Analogue
Factory. I cant recommend it highly
enough, in fact. Not only does it lay
out a library of every preset for every
synth in the collection according to
sound type and characteristics, but
you can play, edit and key-split those
sounds within the plug-in itself. If you
want to go more in depth, you can
also just open the synth responsible
for that sound right alongside the
Laboratory. There are standard
controls within it, too, such as cut-off,
resonance, chorus and delay, as well
as two ADSR envelopes, so if you
want to choose something quickly
and make minor tweaks its very
easy to do. Basically it acts like the
mothership of your collection but is
playable and powerful enough to be a
solid stand-alone synth.

The Spark VDM

This is the vintage and software-
only version of the Spark Creative
Drum Machine. And just like its
hardware/software sister, it
emulates analogue kits rather
than samples them, which means
you can effectively tweak your
favourite vintage sounds from
their foundations; resulting in a
more authentic response. When I
affected the pitch of a bass drum
or snare, for example, the tone
remained satisfyingly pure. Its
well set-up for live performance
as well. The centre module is
clearly designed for creating on
the fly, with an embedded FX
screen offering powerful filter,
slicer and roller effects that are
easy to modulate in real-time.
Another cool feature for me was
that you dont have to settle for the
individual preset sounds within a
specific kit. You can choose an 808
bass drum with a Linn snare for
example, and the entire library of
individual sounds is accessible in
the bottom slide-out panel. There
is of course a step-sequencer, good
MIDI integration, song and pattern
mode, a mixer and a great library
of famous drum-machines. The
key thing for many people, though,
will be its analogue emulation and
live play features, which I think will
impress nine times out of 10.

So, a pretty comprehensive collection, and for my money, the

technology is impressive and the synths are convincingly rendered. If
youre after the classic analogue sound that was responsible for so many
embarrassing dance-floor moments in your youth, I dont think youd
be disappointed. And if you want to tweak the hell out of those original
tones to erase the past and forge new territory, theres plenty of scope to
do that as well.

AT 82
Mid-Side recording means total control
Mid-Side recording allows independent adjustment of all parameters of direct and ambient sound offering exceptional
control over the stereo field width. The first handheld recorder to offer Mid-Side stereo recording, the H2n features our
best microphones yet and is the only portable recorder with five mic capsules onboard. Isolate mid and side tracks
for adjusting, affecting and individual processing at any time after recording. Convert to mono for broadcast without
phase cancellation. Get great recordings instantly by capturing 360 sound without monitoring and refine your
recordings into finished works with the included WaveLab LE software or your choice of digital audio workstation.

The H2n offers four unique recording modes: Mid-Side (MS) stereo, 90 X/Y stereo, 2-channel and 4-channel surround sound. USB 2.0 interface.
Analog Mic Gain for precision volume control. Edit audio onboard. Onboard reference speaker and stereo output. New data recovery
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AT 83
 REVIEW

RCF AYRA MONITOR

SPEAKERS
RCFs AYRA series come with throwback NS10
looks, solid construction, and a price to get you
moving into the Italian stallions stable.
Review: Mark Woods

REFLEX LOWER LIP

The bass reflex port along the bottom of the front
DEEP DISH of the cabinet is rectangular with a slightly recessed
All speakers in the range are quite deep, lower lip.
which may need to be considered when
deciding where to place them.

PRICE (each) CONTACT PROS CONS SUMMARY

NEED TO KNOW

AYRA 5 $299 Group Technologies Good price No bass trim RCFs live speaker legacy is evident in the
AYRA 6 $399 (03) 9354 9133 or AYRA series build quality. A solid box that can
Solid cabinet construction Slightly hollow low-mids
AYRA 8 $499 sales@grouptechnologies.com.au be forgiven for sounding slightly hollow in the
Effective heat management low-mids for the price.
AYRA 10-inch Sub $699
Wide sweet spot

AT 84
 Its probably safe to say RCF is the audio
worlds favourite Italian speaker
manufacturer. Best known in Australia for their
popular range of live speakers they make a wide
range of audio gear for applications ranging from
domestic use to large-scale concerts. According to
RCF, its recently released AYRA range of powered
near-field speakers combines the companys
expertise in live speakers and hi-fi audio to create
speakers that provide a connection between these
two areas. The result is a range of speakers aimed
at the home studio/multimedia/gaming market.
The series consists of three models and a matching
sub, all available at very reasonable prices.
A LOOK THAT WONT DATE
All three models combine active two-way designs
with a strong family look that is distinctive in its
old-yet-new colour scheme. I suspect the look is
quite deliberately an update on the classic Yamaha
NS10 with a black cabinet and white woofer cone.
The AYRA series has reflection-busting rounded
corners on the front panel and its sleek, smooth
matt-black finish looks modern and stylish. MDF
lurks below the lacquered surface, but it feels like
strong plastic. The cabinets are resonance-free and
weighty enough to give a solid, quality feel. Studio
monitors dont get knocked around like live gear
but the surface feels like it would be quite resistant
to scuffs and scratches. Though I couldnt bring
myself to test the hypothesis.
The smallest of the range is the AYRA 5 and,
as its designation implies, its got a 5-inch
composite fibreglass driver and a 1-inch soft
dome neodymium tweeter mounted in a
moulded waveguide. Coverage is quoted at
110 degrees horizontal and 70 degrees vertical.
Power is supplied by newly-designed 35W+20W
Class AB amplifiers, and the DSP includes a soft
limiter, while thermal and RMS detection offer
protection from damage. The AYRA 6 is the
same but with a 6-inch woofer and 50W+25W
amps while the AYRA 8 has an 8-inch driver and
80W+30W of power.
Connections are made on the rear panel and include
balanced XLR or -inch jack inputs and a single
unbalanced RCA input. Controls are a volume knob
and a high-frequency adjustment that switches
between -2dB, -1dB, 0db and +1dB at an unlabelled
frequency. This layout is simple enough for amateur
users but comprehensive enough to allow a wide
range of equipment to be connected. Missing is a
low-frequency trim that can help reduce the bass
build-up that commonly occurs when the speakers
are placed with a wall close behind them. Cooling is
by convection and even though there are no obvious
heat sinks the cabinet only got slightly warm after
being on all day. Voltage settings are manual, rather
than the modern auto sensing types, but clear to see
and lockable.
PRICE IS RIGHT
Ive been trying the AYRA 5 and AYRA 8 versions
and while Ive had them they have received many
favourable comments about their looks from
customers, with those of a certain age picking
the NS10 similarity straight away. I havent used
an NS10 for some years, and I dont miss them
beyond a certain nostalgia anyway. They were OK
in the 80s and they made a reasonable reference
monitor at the time. The idea was if the woofer
was jumping out of the cabinet on the kick drum
and the tweeter was drawing blood from your ears
then the ratio of high to low frequencies was about
right. The high frequencies were tiring on the ears
but the positive spin was they were bright enough
to still hear the top end after the 18-hour sessions
that were necessary to get a good studio rate in
the 80s.
The NS10 comparison really only applies to the
speakers looks, although Im sure RCF would be
hoping their sales figures are as successful over
as long a period of time. The AYRA series sound
more modern and they are a good example of
the gains in audio quality versus price in the last
20 years. The supplied frequency response curve
is commendably flat and as a listening speaker
they are pleasant and accurate enough for most
purposes. Their horizontal coverage is wide and
even, and you dont need to be right on-axis to
hear them clearly. If I compared them to the best
quality (and much more expensive) near-field
monitors they exhibit some graininess and blurred
detail in the high frequencies. The low frequencies
are quite full and reasonably tight, at least at low-
medium volumes. There is some hollowness and
lack of presence in the low-mids that you notice
when comparing them to other speakers but
again, for the price theyre pretty good.
STABLE SOUND
Comparing the AYRA 5 to the AYRA 8 illustrated
how consistent the sound is across the range. The
mid-high frequencies and coverage are the same
with the only real difference being the AYRA 8 is
more efficient and reaches down lower. The AYRA
5 is quoted at 55Hz20kHz although there is no
minus point mentioned. Maximum level is quoted
as 106dB. The AYRA 8 is quoted at 45Hz-20kHz
with 110dB the maximum. The AYRA 8 is a much
bigger speaker though and the depth of 328mm
could cause problems unless you have a deep shelf
or large desk to put them on. In use I found either
model is easy to work with as long as you didnt
push them too hard. The slightly hollow low-mids
meant I had to be a little more careful not to try to
compensate and end up with a boxy, mid-heavy
sound when I played them back on other systems.
As you push for higher volumes the limiter
becomes noticeable and the cabinet starts to load
up. I found the low frequency response to be
adequate for general recording and mixing even
from the AYRA 5 but if you want more bass, or
more volume, the matching sub might be needed.
I didnt get to try the sub as part of this review but
its a ported design that uses a 10-inch composite
fibreglass woofer with 250W of class AB amplifier.
The AYRA 10 sub has a built-in crossover, a
quoted frequency response of 35 130Hz, and its
finished in the same surface as the other speakers
in the range.
WIDE RANGE
RCF has designed the AYRA series to work in a
wide variety of applications and this makes good
sense. The line between reference monitors and
general-purpose speakers is getting blurry and at
the prices these sell for I would imagine theyll
find their way into project studios, computer
gaming set-ups, home entertainment systems or
even just as kick-ass computer speakers you get
a lot of style and sound for your money.
AT 85
AT 86
AT 87
 REVIEW

AVID HD
NATIVE THUNDERBOLT INTERFACE
Thunderbolt may be the answer to Mac Pro woes, but the
promise of Avids first thunderbolt interface is tempered by the
inability to purchase it standalone. So who is it designed for?
Review: Brent Heber

PRICE PROS CONS SUMMARY

NEED TO KNOW

$5499 with Omni interface ProTools HD 10 license Premium price Thunderbolt could be the answer to Apples Mac Pro line failings. But Avids
& ProTools 10HD included Must be bought with an new HD Native Thunderbolt interface asks a lot of reinvestment for the
$4399 (upgrade from MBox Nice headphone jack interface stalwart HD owner, making it more suited to those fresh into the HD game.
Pro or 00x interface) Works well with Avid Headphone jack doesnt
Venue boards work unless an interface is
CONTACT
Low latency system connected
Avid
Single thunderbolt port
1300 734 454 or
www.avid.com

AT 88
 So they say Apple will be discontinuing
the Mac Pro line in 2013. It makes sense.
Apple is making a stack more cash from the
consumer iOS market than the pro space and
apparently it costs quite a bit in R&D to make a
Mac Pro as pretty as the ones they have done in
the past. Not to mention the last three models of
the Mac Pro have been nearly identical, so
perhaps the writing is on the wall. For those of us
in the pro audio space with our beloved PCIe
expansion cards, where does that leave us?
Thunderbolt connections are apparently our
saviour, with ports connecting straight to the
heart of the motherboard at whopping speeds
hitherto unheard of. Moving forwards in the
Apple space the Mac Mini Server and iMacs may
be the most powerfully optioned OSX CPUs for
audio work, so the thunderbolt connection and
providing pro audio solutions for it is a high
priority for many manufacturers, Avid among
them. Affordable thunderbolt expansion chassis
are already on the market as a migration strategy
but natively-connected thunderbolt interfaces
seem to be the next wave of pro audio kit.
Thats looking towards tomorrow, when the Mac
Pro line is no longer an option. Today most audio
facilities are still well equipped with relatively
new Mac Pros and do not yet have to face any
re-equipping into thunderbolt land. So who is the
Avid HD Native Thunderbolt interface aimed at
and what does it do?
The Avid HD Native Thunderbolt box can only
be purchased as part of a system with an Omni
interface and ProTools 10HD. As it stands, you
cant buy it standalone, which for a HD owner
like myself is a hard pill to swallow. As a HD user,
the ability to connect the interfaces I already own
via thunderbolt is an appealing future-proofing
measure. But in the same measure, connecting
via the thunderbolt box without the PCIe cards
would cut a lot of DSP out of the chain and a
resultant drop in performance. Thinking through
the options, if I wanted to rip a HD interface out
of my rig and go portable with thunderbolt, while
it would be one less step to just hookup through
this new thunderbolt box, an expansion chassis
might be the best power to weight ratio anwyay.
So it begs the question, who is it aimed at if not
the stalwart HD user? If youre already a Tools
user, perhaps from the LE generation that has
been using a USB or Firewire interface but
looking for something with a little more grunt,
then youre probably a closer fit.
QUALITY NATIVELY THERE
The quality of a HD Native system is well
spruiked. Whether you are using the thunderbolt
box or its PCIe brother you end up with snappy
low latency performance for tracking and can
run twice as many ins and outs as a PTHD
system without either box/card (64, up from 32
running Avid software alone). The new Avid
interfaces are well regarded, have great clocking
and sound extremely transparent. The Omni in
particular is a great little box with many high end
features crammed into a single rack unit and is
one of the most usefully designed boxes Avid has
ever made.
Realistically the HD Native thunderbolt should
be thought of as a cable. It allows you to plug
Avid interfaces into a laptop or iMac etc, it
doesnt add any processing power, it has a nice For the new startup, a
headphone output (that can only be used if the
box is plugged into an Avid interface rendering it
Mac Mini Server and one
fairly pointless, and would make more sense if it of these thunderbolt
was untethered) so basically its an adapter cable.
Then why cant it be bought standalone?
boxes with an Omni
As a standalone product, the HD Native
would make a great
Thunderbolt could be useful in one industry in system
particular. By enabling more portable, smaller
form factor computers for use with up to 64
channels of Avid I/O, you present a solid option
for the live sound recording industry. A rack of
interfaces, or better yet the new MADI I/O from
unnecessarily modular introduction into Pro
Avid with one of these thunderbolt boxes would
Tools HD, youve got to realise that its never
give simple and compact access to the raft of live
been cheap. Pro Tools HD has always existed as
boards with MADI connections straight into a
a premium product, built on qualified systems
laptop or Mac Mini Server. Take it a step further
that are designed to function to a given spec.
with the Avid Venue systems that are doing so
And while tempting to compare it on face value
well, the thunderbolt box/cable can connect
to the only other thunderbolt interface on the
straight to the Profile or Venues HD card slots
market, there are some major differences. While
giving 48 fixed and 16 assignable outputs from
Universal Audios Apollo has 18 x 24 I/O, the
the console pre-processing, a big step up from the
Omni can accommodate 64 channels of I/O, and
18 available over firewire which most engineers
it also has a serial port connection for pro level
have used on previous generation laptops. In a
sync, while Apollo trades off its very desirable
live environment it actually makes sense to have
onboard UAD-powered plug-in platform. So
that high quality headphone output with high
while the computer interface might be the same,
gain for checking what you are tracking.
the devices arent.
DAISY BALL & CHAIN
Also, if you are a travelling engineer, this box
It begs the question, why engineer the
will ship with ProTools HD10 on an iLok (the
thunderbolt box to be so dumbed down? Why
most expensive software update Avid/Digidesign
not add an Omni generation pre amp on the
has ever offered, adding some more value to the
front, a pair of XLR/TRS combo outputs on the
equation) so its easy enough to work without the
back and allow it to be used without HD I/O
thunderbolt box at all, just using your laptops
connected? Then you end up with a frankenstein
sound output and your headphones, something
MBox Mini that can also connect 64 channels
many of us have been doing since PT9 came
of HD I/O to your laptop and that would be
along and opened up that option. Perhaps that
attractive to the travelling engineer. But in many
would be preferable to having to plug the box in
ways, the issue of pre-existing HD interface
and potentially drain your batteries that much
owners not being able to buy the thunderbolt box
faster on a long flight.
stand-alone stems from precisely that fact that
Avid has made the thunderbolt box a modular For the existing market that Avid already
piece, not built-in. If they had merely released an dominate this seems a bit of an odd duck unless
updated Omni with thunderbolt onboard, then they decide to sell them without I/O and find a
there wouldnt be a problem to have. way to make that headphone jack work without
an interface plugged in the back. But for the
Theres also the issue of thunderbolt being a daisy
new startup, a Mac Mini Server and one of these
chain system. This box only has one thunderbolt
thunderbolt boxes with an Omni would make
port, making it the end of the chain, which is
a great system low latency tracking, solid
inconvenient, and requires a hub.
monitoring capability, great sound and oodles of
So while on one hand it looks like an expensive, native software grunt.
AT 89
 REVIEW

PEARL DS60
DOUBLE DUAL MEMBRANE
CAPSULE MICROPHONE
Pearl loves its rectangular capsule, so much so
its put four of them in the one body to create
the all-seeing. all-capturing microphone.
Review: Alex Richardson

Who would you kill for a swiss-army microphone? Im
not sure anyone has promised a microphone that does
it all before, but Pearls DS60 comes close. Before you start
guffawing, think of an application. A superlative cardioid
vocal microphone you ask? Done. A Mid-side setup for
acoustic guitar? Still the same mic. How about an XY
configuration for overheads? Please, its already in your
hands. Other than spaced pairs, anything you can do with
two mics Pearl can do with one.
The Pearl DS60 is a stereo/quadraphonic microphone
including two of Pearls rectangular, dual membrane
capsules that are precisely mechanically-aligned to achieve
the best stereo image. Its beautifully black and gold-finished
body and grill gives it the microphone equivalent looks of a
European sports car front end, but does it have what it takes
under the hood?
BREAKING OUT
The two condenser dual-capsules each output two signals,
which requires a mic cable with four breakout XLRs. After
a few minutes reading about how to use the mic breakout
cable and its mapped frequency response graph which
can be a little confusing at first the mic quickly reveals
itself to be quite a kick-ass tool, primed and ready for almost
every situation. You have full control over four signals
during recording andmixdown, which is a luxury.Your
four signals give you polarity options of cardioid, omni or
figure-8. The dual signals mean that you can even work
with an isolated mix of the rear of the figure-8 patterns if
it suits your application. That means you can adjust room
reverberance, wall slap backs and noisy audiences in the mix
if you want.You could record stereo or quadraphonic, M-S,
Blumlein or XY with precise placement. The DS60 clearly
outlines its centre focus points for XY or M-S, with gold
engraving on the black body.
GETS THE GOOD ANGLES
The capsules are Pearls point of difference. For starters
the capsules are rectangular. The going line is that circular
capsules suffer from a more powerful resonance as a result
of their shape. All membranes resonate but the quieter the
resonance the less compensating needed in the engineering
of the microphones other elements. Basically a stretched
membrane, much like a guitar string, resonates at a specific
frequency decided by its thickness and level of tension. The
rectangular shape of Pearls capsule helps achieve a flatter
response than a circular diaphragm because the centre of
the membrane has two different distances to the capsules
borders, which means there are two resonances rather than
one, and each resonance is less prominent or lower in level
than in a conventional circular capsule. Another benefit
is that the rectangular capsules shorter width helps avoid
longer distances between capsule borders. Longer distances
result in lower frequency resonances, which are a lot
more problematic than higher frequencies in microphone
engineering. Pearl also declares that the capsules rejection is
far superior to normal circular capsules.

PRICE PROS CONS SUMMARY

NEED TO KNOW

$5230 ex GST More than 2 mics in 1 Wallet breaker The Pearl DS60 is the workhorse microphone you wont have
Transparent capture any qualms showing off. It can do most everything two great
CONTACT
mics will do in the one, high quality package. Itll just cost the
Professional Audio Technology Four outputs for greater flexibility equivalent.
(02) 9476 1272 or
sales@proaudiotechnology.com.au

AT 90
Now normally Im a big advocate for curves in a mics response for
music production. A good tube mic with a slight hump in the mid-range
brings beauty and placement in the mix, but the Pearl DS60 boasts a
response thats almost dead straight. Thats fantastic news for on-site
recordings, film location recordings and room mics in the live room, but
how does it fair for individual parts during music production?
MANY WAYS TO CUT IT
The first instrument I had the opportunity to test the DS60 on was the
double bass. I had an idea to try a stereo XY focused vertically to record
up and down the neck. I could mono and centre the low-end using
another more appropriate mic on the F-Hole and then use a high pass
filter on the Pearls signals. The XY pattern meant large coverage but
could also achieve some interesting stereo movement. The mono low
end and high pass filter on the XY setup was intended to avoid panning
of lower frequencies, which sit stronger when at the centre of the mix.
It was a great opportunity to test the mics sensitivity. On first listen, the
mic really shone at picking up the entire range of the basss neck (string
resonance and fretting). Every nuance was there. The bassist was more
blown away by that than myself. He could use the headphones with both
cans and still get definition, rather than with one off to listen to the bass
itself. More impressive to me was the tight and controlled top end. Often
with new, flat condenser microphones I have an issue with the top end
being harsh or over accentuated, definitely not the case with Pearl.
My second opportunity to test the Pearl was in front of an acoustic
guitar. My usual setup on a guitar is a tube mic on the body and a small
diaphragm on the neck about 12th fret, depending on its application.
Though a common issue with this combination is phase. A Pearl DS60
makes a stereo guitar setup easy and avoids the phase caveats.
Going with the M-S configuration this time, I was again impressed
by the silky top-end but more so by its extended low frequencies. The
microphone boasts an 18Hz-25kHz frequency range and it definitely
performs. Its transparent sonic quality suggests an incredibly flat
frequency response. In the documentation it shows a ruler flat response
from about 60Hz-2.5kHz, a slight hump in the high mids followed by
a tapering off after 10kHz, with variations on that theme depending
on pattern selection. The sound to my earsis delicate, transparent,
full-ranged, vivid and sensitive all at the same time but it lacks a bit
of mid-range thickness for certain applications. Thats a very similar
quality to its other neighbouring European microphone manufacturers/
enthusiasts who strive for perfect capturing of the original sound source.
SEES EVERYTHING
Vocal recordings of a soft female voice unveiled much the same qualities
as the acoustic guitar except it was a single capsule side with a cardioid
pattern instead of an M-S formula. It was here I was truly able to test
the rectangular capsules rejection, with a bit of baffling to help dry it
up a little. The vocals sounded upfront and dry straight off the cusp,
signalling a high rejection quality of the capsule. It is still susceptible
to the commonly experienced proximity effect, though this is not
necessarily a flaw and can of course be used to your advantage.
I couldnt call this review complete without seeing how it might perform
for location recording or atmos. My studios front yard often fills with
Lorikeets, so I took it out there with my mobile recording kit and
captured some remarkably true responses of the surroundings. Its sound
reminded me of a Soundfield microphone Ive used once or twice in
Melbourne. Once again sensitivity was a big plus with anything in its
path being audible without being overly loud.
SHOWHORSE
The Pearl DS60 is a powerful tool in any sound engineers box. Its a
go-to microphone for almost all applications. But in life, you get what
you pay for, and in this case you might have broken the bank. The
microphone is in the higher echelon of price points but its a workhorse
youll be proud to show off. You might not be able to get a pretty lady
inside like you can an expensive car but Id say you could get her to love
her voice by the end of the recording.

AT 91
 REVIEW

SM PRO M-PATCH V2
PASSIVE MONITOR CONTROLLER
A simple monitor controller just got better with
CHECK FOR MONO
swappable encoders. The stereo/mono switch is handy for
regularly checking stereo work to see how it
Review: Mark Woods holds up in mono a good thing.

STEP UP
The V2 version comes supplied with
two high quality, interchangeable
rotary encoders a continuously
variable model, and a 12-step variant
thats great for locking in consistent
monitoring levels.

PRICE PROS CONS SUMMARY

NEED TO KNOW

$249 Swappable stepped or None SM Pros V2 passive volume controller could and should find its
continuously variable encoders way onto every studio desk that currently doesnt have good
CONTACT
Stereo/Mono switch a big help monitoring control, or could do with a highly accurate, repeatable
Sound & Music
Selectable dual inputs & set up.
(03) 9555 8081 or
outputs
info@sound-music.com
Good price

AT 92
 w

The M-Patch V2 is one of those devices that you may not realise you
need at all but once youve tried it, you wont want to be without it.
Following on from the success of the original M-Patch, the M-Patch V2
offers the high-quality passive attenuation of the original version but in a
larger package thats easier to use and incorporates several improved features.
Some apparently as a result of suggestions from users.
An Australian design, the M-Patch V2 connects between an audio interface
or mixing console and the monitor amps/speakers to provide analogue
volume control and alternate source/speaker selection. For DAW use without
a mixing console the M-Patch V2 allows for clean analogue level attenuation
rather than potentially degrading digital attenuation. For DAW use with
a mixing console it offers the convenience of placing the level control in a Worlds best audio interfaces
more accessible position. In my situation I use a fairly large analogue console
but sit at a desk with screens, keyboard and mouse; the mixer is off to the
side. So Im forever leaning over to adjust the monitor level. Aside from the
small amount of physical exercise this gives me its inconvenient and often
means leaning across customers to get to the mixer. The M-Patch V2 has
Symphony I/O
allowed me to place the level control in front of me, within easy reach. Next generation convertor quality. 32 channels I/O with future proof connectivity.
STEPPING UP TO VERSION 2
Physically the V2 is 2U high compared to the 1U original and this means
theres plenty of space for the controls. It looks a bit like a clock radio with its
Ensemble
rounded sides but its strong and well built. The main level encoder is large Multi-Channel, 24bit/192kHz Audio Interface
and everything is chunky, easy to see and grab. A couple of stick-on rubber
pads are included in the box to stop it sliding backwards when you push a
button. A rack-mount kit is included but I would imagine most users would
Rosetta 200
use it as a stand-alone unit, unless the rack is within easy reach; the ability to 2-Channel, 24bit/192kHz AD/DA Converter
have the level encoder close at hand is one of its best features. The rear panel
has two combo XLR/jack connectors for the main stereo input, two RCAs
and a 1/8-inch socket for auxiliary inputs, and two pairs of XLR output
BigBen
sockets for connecting amps/speakers. 192k Master Word Clock

As well as the convenience of choosing where to place the controller it One Quartet
USB Interface & mic for The ultimate desktop
has several other handy functions that can be used in a variety of ways
the Mac. Single 24-bit USB audio interface
depending on the specific set-up. Because its a passive device theres no input, stereo output.
way it can colour the sound and the V2 version comes supplied with two
interchangeable rotary encoders; one is continuously variable, the other
operates over 12 stepped positions for easily repeatable settings, and comes
pre-installed. The stepped attenuator is specifically designed for the M-Patch
range with 470 film resistors that have a high accuracy of 0.1% to keep
the impedance to the lowest level SM Pro could in a passive system. A level Wide Eye Cable
of accuracy standard variable attenuators cant match. Its a doddle to change
between them with only four screws and a connector to deal with. Jam
Studio quality guitar
Its also a speaker selector for those who use more than one set of monitors. Duet 2 input for iPad,
2 IN x 4 OUT USB audio iPhone and Mac
I found the Aux input convenient for the CD player that otherwise takes up
interface for Mac with
a couple of console channels. Having the Mute button close at hand is great 24-bit/192kHz recording
for killing the sound quickly. And it has one my favourite functions; a stereo/ Symphony PCI
mono switch. Currently I can listen in mono via software or by centering 64-channel Express Card
the playback channels on the console, but having the switch at hand is much
easier and I found I was using it more often its good to regularly check
stereo work to see how it holds up in mono.
Apogee Mic
POWERFUL ADDITION Compact studio
quality USB
All the functions mentioned so far are passive and work without any power microphone
GiO
USB Guitar Interface and Controller
connected to the unit, but if the power supply is connected then you get available for iPad, for the Mac & Logic Studio
iPhone and Mac.
indicator lights for input/output/mute selection status. Plus, the headphone
amp works, and it works well; sound quality is good with plenty of power Authorised Apogee Pro dealers
and a separate volume control. I liked the way selecting Mute kills the main
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AT 93
AT 94
 SUBSCRIBE & WIN
A $4400 BEHRINGER X32 DIGITAL MIXING CONSOLE
Galactic Music has really pulled out all stops
with this subs prize. The Behringer X32 has
been the talk of the town lately, and were
hugely excited to give one away to a lucky
reader! Valued at $4400, the X32 is Behringers
first digital console since Uli Behringer bought
Midas. So you get great-sounding Midas
pres, and all the trappings associated with
the UK company manufacturing consoles in
the same place as Behringer. It also features
40-bit floating point processing, super-low
latency from Klark Teknik, great-sounding
effects and you can use it as the front end for
your home studio or make great sounding live
recordings to boot! You can read all about it in
Guy Harrisons Issue 91 review, as well as the
Building An Empire feature this issue on the
X32 being made in China right alongside the
Midas Pro range.
To be in the running to win, subscribe to
AudioTechnology magazine and answer the
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How much did Uli Behringer spend to tool up The Music Group
factory in order to manufacture Midas consoles there?
[A] Pocket change [B] $100,000
[C] $2 million [D] $20 million

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AT 95
 REGULARS
LAST WORD
with MARK OPITZ
In high school I wanted to be Australias best film director
or Australias best record producer. I came from very
humble beginnings childrens homes, single parent, no money
so I was aiming very high.
AC/DC, The Angels,
INXS, Divinyls, Hoodoo In 1971 I set off for Sydney from Brisbane and joined The ABC.
Gurus, Noiseworks,
After being a cameraman for Seven Little Australians the powers
Cold Chisel producer
Mark Opitzs name is that be wanted to take me down a peg or two: Were going to put
synonymous with the you in audio music recording. Which in the early 70s was the
best in Australian rock/ arse end of the line. But it sounded great to me.
pop of the 80s, but his
work in the last 30-odd I landed a job at EMI mastering in 1974, working alongside
years has taken him Richard Lush and Martin Benge.
around the world many
But I was convinced by EMIs A&R department that I should
times over. Get along to
Marks website work in the labels.
(markopitz.com) I left EMI under a cloud, sacked by the new studio manager for
for more info on his
something I didnt do. I thought my career was over until Vanda
recently released
biography Sophisto- & Young rang me and offered me a gig as their apprentice at
Punk and The Mark Alberts Productions.
Opitz Guide to
Alberts was on the fifth floor of a building in King St, Sydney.
Recording app well
worth the $8.50 asking Ted Albert was the boss and it was very much a family thing.
price. Pictured is Mark Working with George [Young] and Harry [Vanda], it felt like the
Opitz during the Cold three of us against the world.
Chisel East sessions,
Paradise Studios in The first Alberts album I produced was The Angels Face To Face.
1980. I didnt get paid for the first six months. Id hocked my 62 Les
Paul and my 1935 Gibson Kalamazoo just to keep eating.
Ted Albert approached me and said: Mark, were going to give
you a $100 a week and heres a $100 for the last six months. But
theres one caveat; its going to be an advance against money that
you earn the company.
He came to me two months later and said, You owe us $800.
What are you going to do about it? Id been working a million
hours a week! Luckily Face to Face came out a few months after,
sold really well and the rest is history.
I still get royalty cheques from Alberts for my work with The
Angels. I can tell you that its kept me alive a few times.
I knocked back Appetite For Destruction for GunsNRoses! They
were covering a couple of songs Id produced and they wanted me
to be the producer. But I kept hearing how this band had wrecked
another hotel room or burnt down their managers house or
whatever. And Im thinking: this is a brand new band? They hired
Mike Clink and Mike Clink never did another album after that.
Rhino Studios was the most popular studio in the country for
many years but I made a grand total of four grand out of owning
that place with the guys from INXS. It was a buzzing studio if
someone didnt turn up, wed just make a phone call and four
other bands would be clamouring to get in.
AT 96
Its a little like Studios 301 today. We all know that Tom [Misner,
the owner] could put up a block of flats and make 50 times the
money he makes from that studio. We were the 301 of the time.
One of my mantras was always make world music, not Australian
music. Its about the songs and the feel. My favourite Australian
song of all time would be Wide Open Road by The Triffids. If you
listen to that recording, its average. But what that song and the
spirit of that recording captured, I think is immense.
Never write songs that you think people want to hear youll
always be disappointed. But if you write songs you like and youre
happy with, youll never be disappointed.
Australian bands that made it big worldwide, got their
international careers in sync from day one. AC/DC, Little River
Band, Bee Gees, made music for the world and worked hard at
touring the UK or the US from the start. Cold Chisel didnt. It
took four albums before they went to America they were so
huge here, but they had to start at the bottom over there. It was
never going to work.
So you just find a way of doing it. Save up and get the cheapest
airfare possible, because thats your dream. Follow your dream,
just f**king follow it.
I listen to music as a punter not as a music producer. I couldnt
pull out an INXS CD Ive produced and listen to it in my living
room. But the other day I heard Dont Change on the car radio. I
thought: That sounds really cool.
I think shows like The Voice and Idol are totally valid because
the fact is that a), its bringing music to a wider audience and b),
these kids line up for two days for an audition and its the only
way theyre going to get their shot.
Weve got a house in Brunswick where young bands can record
on a budget. Theres a Neve in there and the right gear.
When they ring me up and say, Geez, we cant afford that to
be honest. And I say, Thats bullshit. You tell me what you can
afford and then well see if that covers the cost of the studio.
I say to these guys, the figure that you come up with, add 5% to
it. That way youll work really hard. I am not out to charge the
earth for what I do.
Its hard to have a career in music recording. But its always been
hard. Youve got to find a way. If you want to be an actor, youve
got to be prepared to go to Hollywood and be a waiter. When
I moved down from Queensland as a kid there was nothing. I
walked into the ABC unannounced, waited around for eight
months before they took me in and in that time I worked in
abattoirs, warehouses I did what it took.
Its all about attitude and desire, its all about risk. Its all about
only living once. When Im at the end of my life I can look back
and go, At least I gave it a f**king good crack.
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AT 97
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AT 98