December 2006
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Technology
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| Apple DVD Studio Pro |
Now that DVD Studio Pro is part of Apple's Final Cut Studio bundle, professional DVD authoring is available to most production pros. Having worked with...
BY KEVIN MONAHAN |
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| LaChapell Audio Model 992 Tube Preamp |
When inventor Scott LaChapell set out to design the LaChapell Audio Model 992 tube preamplifier, his primary goal was to highlight the sonic character...
BY MICHAEL COOPER |
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| Mojave MA-200 Tube Condenser Microphone |
A few trade shows ago, I had a meeting with David Royer and John Jennings in the Royer booth and saw a work in progress — the large-capsule MA-200...
BY KEVIN BECKA |
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| Rupert Neve Portico 5032 Mic Pre/EQ |
One of the four half-rackspace modules offered in Rupert Neve's expanding Portico Series is the 5032 Mic Pre/EQ. Like all of the Portico gear, the 5032...
BY BARRY RUDOLPH |
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| Sonic Studio PreMaster CD Software |
Sonic Studio began as the audio division of workstation pioneer Sonic Solutions. Today, Sonic Studio makes hardware interfaces and Mac software for PCM...
BY ERIK ZOBLER |
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| Sony Cinescore Soundtrack Software |
Cinescore from Sony Media Software helps both musicians and non-musicians quickly create music, stingers and effects for video and other projects. One...
BY RICK SPENCE |
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| Steinberg Virtual Bassist, Virtual Guitarist 2 |
Steinberg's Virtual Bassist and Virtual Guitarist II plug-ins are useful tools if you've got a musical blueprint in your head, want some inspiration...
BY ROBERT BROCK |
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| TC Electronic VSS3 Stereo Source Reverb |
Although my TC Electronic System 6000 remains one of my favorite audio toys, it's sometimes maxed out in a film mix. Other times, I want to get sounds...
BY K. K. PROFFITT |
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| Tools of the Trade |
MOTU 8PRE INTERFACE Field recordists will want to check out the single-rackspace 8pre FireWire audio interface from MOTU (
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| Upgrades and Updates |
Eventide (www.eventide.com) releases Version 5.2 software for the H8000FW processor. The upgrade...
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Sound for Picture
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| ‘American Hardcore’ |
In our current era of safe, blow-dried, corporate rap and rock, and super-bland pop, the snarling, spitting, angry punk acts profiled in the new film,...
By Iain Blair |
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| Romus Studio |
Rome-born musician, composer, arranger, conductor and producer Romano Musumarra quickly showed his musical flair when, at the age of nine, he entered...
By Mike Clark |
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| Stage to Screen |
Nearly 25 years to the day after the musical Dreamgirls opened on Broadway and began a triumphant four-year run, a film version is finally hitting theaters....
By Blair Jackson |
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Live Mix
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| “Late Late Show” Boosts Monitor Offerings |
Any touring act and their engineers will find a new, larger performance area at The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson, which recently completed a renovation...
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| FixIt |
Monitor engineer Ramon Morales is currently out with hip hop artist Mary J. Blige and a five-piece band. Blige sings through the Neumann capsule paired...
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| MARIAH CAREY |
With 30-plus-years' experience as a front-of-house engineer, including outings with Sting, James Taylor and Paul Simon, it's safe to say that Howard...
By David John Farinella |
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| New Sound Reinforcement Products |
DIGIDESIGN D-SHOW PROFILE Digidesign's (www.digidesign.com) D-Show Profile offers a size-conscious...
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| News |
Completed just in time for the 2006/'07 football season, Stanford Stadium at Stanford University sports a brand-new audio system, integrated by Pro Media/Ultrasound....
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| Now Playing |
Keb' Mo' Sound Company: Schubert Systems FOH Engineer/Console: Carlos Novais/Yamaha PM5DRH Monitor Engineer/Console: Steve Bumbera (also systems tech)/Yamaha...
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| On the Road |
Megadeth As the headliner on Gigantour 2006, Megadeth has been performing in North America, Japan and Australia, with sound companies Thunder Audio,...
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| She Wants Revenge |
Out on tour with Placebo, She Wants Revenge (Justin Warfield and Adam “Adam 12” Bravin) are playing to sold-out theaters across the U.S....
by Steve Jennings |
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Recording Notes
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| COOL SPINS |
Weather Report Forecast: Tomorrow(Columbia/Legacy) Jazz/rock/world music fusion pioneers Weather Report were so forward-looking in their approach and...
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| JANET JACKSON |
As Janet Jackson and her longtime collaborators, star producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, were recording Jackson's latest release, 20 Y.O. (Virgin Records),...
By Matt Gallagher |
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| STING WITH EDIN KARAMAZOV |
During the course of nine Top 10 solo albums and nearly a dozen Grammys, Sting has proven himself a consummate artist, one who crafts winning pop melodies,...
By Heather Johnson |
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| THE ROMANTICS' “WHAT I LIKE ABOUT YOU” |
Sometimes the rock 'n' roll myth — you know, a group of working-class kids harness their passion for music and use it to escape factory jobs, Popov...
By Gary Eskow |
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Coast to Coast
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| L.A. GRAPEVINE |
No matter where one stands on the controversy surrounding the hit album Ray Sings, Basie Swings, which marries vocals from a 1973 Ray Charles live performance...
by Bud Scoppa |
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| NASHVILLE SKYLINE |
Recently, I was at a pub called Bosco's in Nashville's Hillsboro Village area with Neal Cappellino, a friend who is also a highly regarded engineer (Joan...
by Rick Clark |
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| NEW YORK METRO |
Sometimes when you listen to the music on a kids' show, you wonder if kids were in charge of making it, too. While there are always a few gems for the...
by David Weiss |
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Insider Audio
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| All I Really, Really Want |
Here we are in that strange time between Thanksgiving and the Winter Solstice holiday, when our thoughts turn from what we have to be thankful for to...
BY PAUL D. LEHRMAN |
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Project Studio
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| Timeless Mastering, New York City |
The mastering business has weathered as many surges and reversals as any segment of the music industry in recent years. So it may seem fairly surprising...
BY BARBARA SCHULTZ |
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Tech's Files
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| Once Upon a Studer |
A few months ago, a Studer A827 multitrack came within my depth of field. During the troubleshooting process, one of my student assistants commented...
BY EDDIE CILETTI |
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From the Editor
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| Precision and Beyond |
Way back in high school science and math classes, we learned about precision and the concept of three significant figures (sig figs). For example, the...
George Petersen Executive Editor |
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Feedback
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| Letters to Mix |
NUMBER CRUNCH As a musician working on getting a laptop rig together for live gigs, I was very interested in the article “The Outer Limits of Portability”...
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Current/Industry News
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| ALL-OUT WAR GAME STUDIO MIXES |
Sony Computer Entertainment America booked Pyramind's (S.F.) The Vault studio (Pro Tools HD3) for three days in September to master orchestral performances...
COMPILED BY SARAH BENZULY |
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| ARDENT TURNS THE BIG 4-0 |
Sam & Dave. Led Zeppelin. Isaac Hayes. Leon Russell. The Staples Singers. James Taylor. ZZ Top. Bob Dylan — the list goes on and on. For the past...
COMPILED BY SARAH BENZULY |
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| BOOKSHELF |
Gina Fant-Saez's Pro Tools for Musicians and Songwriters provides insights on recording professional demos at home, with techniques on editing tracks,...
COMPILED BY SARAH BENZULY |
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| INDUSTRY NEWS |
New face at StarCity Recording Company (Bethlehem, PA): engineer Zak Rizvi…Hollywood-based Sonic Pool hired Brett Butler as mixer…Architectural/acoustical...
COMPILED BY SARAH BENZULY |
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| KEN LATCHNEY 1966-2006 |
Engineer Ken Latchney passed away in his sleep on July 27; it is reported that he died of a heart attack. Latchney has mixed and/or engineered for numerous...
COMPILED BY SARAH BENZULY |
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| LEARN TO MASTER |
Mastering engineer Billy Stull (above), owner of Masterpiece Mastering and pro audio equipment manufacturer Legendary Audio, has created the Masterpiece...
COMPILED BY SARAH BENZULY |
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| MIX WEB EXTRAS |
Go beyond the printed page and log on to www.mixonline.com to get extra photos, text and sounds...
COMPILED BY SARAH BENZULY |
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| NOTES FROM THE NET |
GET YOUR MONEY! SoundExchange, the nonprofit organization designated by the United States Copyright Office to collect and distribute royalties from Webcasters,...
COMPILED BY SARAH BENZULY |
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| NOTES FROM THE P&E WING |
Mastering is often described as the final step in the creative process of making a record and the first step in manufacturing. These days, it's common...
BY ADAM AYAN |
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| NYC MIXER |
The New York City pro audio community was abuzz in September with a very welcome event: In the Mix at Legacy Recording Studios (formerly Right Track/Sound...
David Weiss |
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On the Cover
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| The Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music at NYU |
In February of 2003, the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University (www.nyu.edu/tisch/)...
By George Petersen |
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General
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| 2006 TEC Awards |
A record 750 people attended the 22nd Annual TEC Awards at the Hilton San Francisco to honor Hall of Fame inductee David Hewitt, Les Paul Award recipient...
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| A Day in the Wish List Life |
With the holiday season upon us, game freaks and new-wave audio tech heads have much to talk about. Gears of War was recently released by my old friends...
BY ALEXANDER BRANDON |
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| ATHERTON AT A440 |
Engineer James Harley visited A440 Studios (Minneapolis) to mix an album by 17-year-old pop singer Alyssa Atherton. A440 is equipped with Pro Tools HD3...
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| CUTTING ROOM MASTERING |
Mastering engineer Dave McNair at work in his new Cutting Room studio in New York City After 10 years on Broadway, The Cutting Room (New York City) moved...
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| Issues in Modern Mastering |
Despite the much-publicized malaise afflicting the record industry in general, these are pretty good times for most mastering engineers. After all, even...
BY BLAIR JACKSON |
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| KEVORKIAN AT AVATAR |
Avatar Studios' (New York City) resident mastering veteran, Fred Kevorkian, has put the finishing touches on many of the season's significant new releases,...
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| MASSIVE ATTACK |
Complete with a smoke-filled stage and pulsing LED lighting behind the band, the sold-out crowd at the Greek Theater (Berkeley, Calif.) for trip-hop...
by Steve Jennings |
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| ONE-STOP MASTER HOUSE |
Jose Blanco's Pilchner Schoustal — designed Master House Studios (www.masterhousestudios.com)...
Barbara Schultz |
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| Stewart Sound |
It may not seem big-time compared to the high-profile regions (New York City, L.A. and such) that are locally contracted for top-name tours and installs,...
BY RICK CLARK |
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| TIMELESS POETRY |
Bass player, producer and engineer Jaxsn engineered songs by Reverend Benjamin Martin in his Jaxsn Music studio (Hartford, Conn.). Delroy Baker produced...
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| Tools for That Finishing Touch |
Equalization is one of the two most-common processes employed in mastering (the other being dynamics processing) to put the finishing touch on a recording...
BY MICHAEL COOPER |
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| TRACK SHEET |
SOUTHEAST At Doppler Studios (Atlanta), Destiny's Child's Kelly Rowland recorded vocals for an upcoming CD on Sony/BMG. Jazze Pha produced, Nico Solis...
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| Vocals on the Road |
What do disparate styles of music such as R&B, country, rap, rock and opera have in common? The money channel is always the vocal. To be a successful...
BY STEVE LA CERRA |
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| Women AT THE Piano |
Imagine a musician who spent most of her childhood practicing her craft, then most of her adult life studying at a prestigious music conservatory under...
BY HEATHER JOHNSON |
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