Category Archives for "Gear"
The initial reports are in and virtually everyone agrees that the Apple’s new HomePod smart speaker is one fine-sounding unit that handily beats the competition in the sound quality category. This comes as no surprise since Apple has long had a stable of extremely capable engineers with backgrounds in professional audio and audio DSP. With […]
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To many of the more seasoned engineers who grew up using them, the Neumann U 67 was a desert island microphone. Able to record just about anything well, the 67 has been a long-time favorite for those that could get their hands on a good vintage one. The problem was that Neumann phased out the […]
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It seems like everyone has at least a couple of DAW applications, but most of us rely on just one. It may be because we’re forced to because of professional reasons (like Pro Tools, for example), or we’ve just settled on one that’s compatible with our workflow. That said, Music Radar did a survey to […]
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Andrew Scheps is not only noted for his excellent mixing abilities for acts as diverse as Adele to Metallica, but he’s also one thoughtful guy, so when he comes out with a plugin, you can bet it’s something special. For instance, there are a lot of Neve 1073-style plugins available, but his Scheps 73 is […]
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Audionamix is a very clever company with a variety of intelligent software products specializing in extracting tracks for a full stereo mix. The company just introduced its new XTRAX STEMS app that will separate any song into its drum, vocal and remaining music components, which is a pretty cool trick when you think about it. […]
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If you always needed a computer interface and also wanted to get into Universal Audio plugins but didn’t want to pay the price for an Apollo, now you’re in luck. UA has introduced a brand new, scaled down version of the Apollo Twin called the Arrow. The Arrow is that same as a Twin a […]
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It often takes plugins to catch hold of the market, and many times they fail to capture the attention of pro users no matter how good they are. That’s not been the case with FabFilter, as the company’s products have been used on countless hits almost since Frederik Slijkerman and Floris Klinkert, started the company in […]
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As the world of Star Trek (and science fiction in general) gets closer and closer to reality, there’s been a rethink of the controllers that we’ve used in audio. We’ve all gotten used to what was the norm of analog knobs, faders and switches, but what if you were freed from those restrictions? Touch Innovations […]
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Large commercials studios often go to many lengths to make sure that what you hear is as close to an accurate representation of the music as possible. This includes the often overlooked areas of power and grounding. With a studio it’s understandable, but what if you’re an avid hobbyist? These Japanese audiophiles have gone to […]
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Console maker Solid State Logic has a new owner and it’s Audiotronix. The audio conglomerate purchased the iconic console company from majority shareholder Peter Gabriel, who’s owned the company for 12 years. SSL now joins a corporate umbrella that includes DiGiCo, DiGiGrid, Calrec and Allen & Heath. This fills out the product mix for Audiotronix, since SSL […]
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Gated reverb on drums is a sound that you either love or hate, but either way, you have to admit that it played a big role in music in the 1980s. All things in music recycle, so gated reverb is back again on hits by Lorde, Haim and Taylor Swift, among many others, so it’s […]
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We could all use a little bit of shopping help when it comes to buying Christmas gifts for the people around us in the music and recording business. If you’re in a quandary about what to buy, you’re in luck as I have a list of recommendations that covers a wide variety of items and price […]
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There’s so much attention given to vinyl these days that I though it might be a good idea to cover exactly what goes into actually pressing a record. It’s actually a primitive process by today’s standards, and it’s pretty amazing that they sound as good as they do. Here’s an excerpt from the 4rth edition […]
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Did you ever have an unusually dynamic vocal where your compressor works perfectly in one section of the song, then springs into over-compression on another? Of course you did. That’s something that everyone runs into on a regular basis. One way around this is to automate the parameters of the compressor, but that’s gets time-consuming. […]
Continue readingYou might not have heard that there’s been a huge advancement in battery technology that’s likely to surpass anything that’s come before it. Samsung has developed a technology using graphene balls that not only will extend a battery’s capacity by 45%, but speed up the charging process to be about 5 times faster than what we’re […]
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