Category Archives for "Gear"
- in Gear , Hardware by Bobby Owsinski
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How A $300,000 Speaker Is Made
I generally think that most high-end audio gear is pretty bogus (there are exceptions, of course), and that opinion comes from auditioning various equipment at hi-fi shows. Not the best place to listen, I agree, but in most cases things are so off that within the first 10 seconds of listening I know that there’s […]
Continue reading- in Gear , New Music Gear Monday , Plugin , Software by Bobby Owsinski
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New Music Gear Monday: Softube Tape Plugin
One of the byproducts of recording on tape is the fact that it added some glue to the mix that engineers have found lacking in the digital world. As a result, tape saturation plugins have become standard in many mixer’s plugin lists, and they’re getting more and more sophisticated every day. The latest tape emulator […]
Continue reading- in Gear , Production , Software by Bobby Owsinski
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What’s The Top DAW? It’s Not An Easy Answer
We live in a golden age of audio software. Just about any digital audio workstation that you buy is easy to use and has more power than almost any analog studio, and the plugins available are nothing short of spectacular. The only problem is that there are so many DAW packages available that it’s difficult […]
Continue reading- in Gear , New Music Gear Monday , Software by Bobby Owsinski
New Music Gear Monday: PatchCAD Patchbay Labeling Software
It doesn’t matter how large or small your studio is, you have a mix of both analog and digital gear, and if you want to be able to access everything quickly and efficiently, then you need some sort of patchbay. Designing the signal flow and wiring of a patchbay takes some thought for sure, but […]
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New Music Gear Monday: Genelec The Ones Series Coaxial Monitors
I’ve been using coaxial monitors as part of my regular studio setup for a long time. As far as I’m concerned, there’s something about their “single-point source” nature that sounds right to me, and it’s something that other speakers with separated drivers just can’t seem to deliver, at least to my ears. Don’t get me wrong, […]
Continue reading- in Gear by Bobby Owsinski
Will We Be Using Graphene Speakers Soon?
Let’s face it, loudspeaker transducer technology hasn’t had a real breakthrough in over a hundred years. Every improvement (and there have been many) has been an evolution and not a revolution. That could change soon thanks to some groundbreaking research from the University of Exeter that uses graphene as a transducer. “What’s so groundbreaking about […]
Continue reading- in Gear , MI/Audio Business , Software by Bobby Owsinski
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Avid Is Moving To The Cloud With Microsoft, But Is That A Good Thing?
If you’re a Pro Tools user you hold your breath with every announcement from Avid. The thought that comes most often is, “How much will it cost me this time?” The next question usually is, “Is this for the stockholders or for the users?” The latter question comes to mind first with Avid’s recent announcement about […]
Continue reading- in Gear , New Music Gear Monday , Plugin , Software by Bobby Owsinski
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New Music Gear Monday: Drawmer S73 Intelligent Master Processor Plugin
Multiband compressors are some of the most useful tools you’ll find on a mix buss or for mastering, but many engineers don’t have the patience to set them up correctly. That’s where the new Drawmer S73 Intelligent Master Processor plugin comes in. It takes much of the setup out of the engineer’s hands thanks to a number of […]
Continue reading- in Gear , Hardware by Bobby Owsinski
Inside The Roland Space Echo
Before the digital delay there was the tape echo machine and it was cheap enough that every band (and in some cases guitar players) had one. The problem was that most of the models available at the time weren’t exactly “studio-ready,” so they rarely made it into the average studio in the U.S. Then came the […]
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A Look At Building A High-End Turntable
There’s no question that vinyl is back with a bang, and as a result, so is the turntable business. In fact, most turntable manufacturers both big and small have experienced double digit sales growth in the last few years, a trend that looks like it won’t be stopping anytime soon. But what exactly goes into […]
Continue reading- in Gear , New Music Gear Monday , Plugin , Software by Bobby Owsinski
New Music Gear Monday: Eventide Fission Structural Effects Plugin
Most processor plugins these days fall into roughly the same categories (EQ, compression, effects, denoise and utilities), so when a plugin comes along that starts a new category it’s big news. The plugin I’m talking about is the the Eventide Fission, which uses what the company calls its new Structural Effects (that would be the name of […]
Continue reading- in Gear , Hardware by Bobby Owsinski
You Can Own One Of These Iconic Consoles
If you love old recording desks, then you have a chance to buy not one, but 2 iconic consoles that have huge pedigrees with tons of hits. The first is the EMI TG12345 MK IV from Abbey Road Studios made famous for the recording of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon, and albums by Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Kate Bush, […]
Continue reading- in Computer , Gear by Bobby Owsinski
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Google’s AI Music Experiment
Many musicians feel threatened by the artificial intelligence programs that are now trying to create songs based on the music that they’ve learned. Yes, it’s scary when the robots take over, but perhaps we’re looking at it all wrong, as illustrated with this Google AI music experiment. A.I. Duet, as shown in the video below, is […]
Continue reading- in Book Excerpt , Gear , Music by Bobby Owsinski
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2 Schools Of Thought On Guitar Pedal Order For Better Sound
I was asked by a guitar player recently why his tone wasn’t what he wanted, and the first thing that got my attention was the maze of stomp boxes he was using. Although that wasn’t the only problem with his rig, it was a good place to start, since everything was connected more or less […]
Continue reading- in Acoustics , Gear , Software by Bobby Owsinski
Just What Your Mix Needs – Surveillance Tower Reverb
I know, I know. You can’t finish that mix until you get the sound of an old surveillance tower to pull it all together. But where to find one? Well you’re in luck as the impulse responses from the Teufelsberg National Security Agency tower in West Berlin are now available. Best of all – it’s a free […]
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