Table of contents for Issue 133 in AudioTechnology

When Rode released the Rodecaster, it felt like someone in the audio biz was finally taking podcasts seriously. Up until that point, most podcast products had been USB mics – something simple a dreamer could buy to try out their big idea without breaking the bank. The Rodecaster still kept things simple, with basic controls and vocal presets for specific Rode mics. One of those mics is the Podmic. It’s an end address large diaphragm dynamic microphone — a la Rode’s broadcast-looking Procaster — but just over half the length. It looks the part, with its yoke stand mount allowing you to suspend it from a sprung boom arm like Rode’s PSA1. The Podmic is surprisingly heavy for its size, but the tensioners on the yoke keep it firmly in…

Benjamin’s ‘console’ was a mixed bag of preamps, including two API 512Cs, a Focusrite ISA428, a JLM NV500 and TG500, and a lunchbox of Neve 1073LBs. The onboard Apogee preamps covered the remaining channels. Benjamin is part of a loose collective of audio pros in the area who happily share, lend and borrow microphones. The diagram illustrates the mic and DI selection for the Suicide Swan sessions. The sources entered Logic via Apogee Ensemble conversion. Benjamin set up the Logic session to resemble a 24-channel mixing console as much as he could, keeping software effects and processing to a minimum to replicate the working conditions within an analogue studio. By the way, Benjamin supplied the freehand illustrations.…

With sole traders making up a whopping 61 percent of Australian businesses, it’s little wonder that resources, information and assistance for small enterprises are abundant. Plug ‘small business podcast’ into a search engine and you’ll be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information available to the budding entrepreneur. So why is it that when it comes to the ins and outs of running a small business, audio engineers and producers are so useless? My theory is this: the reason you got into audio or production in the first place is the same reason you’d push your mother down the stairs to avoid looking at a profit and loss statement or, heaven forbid, your superannuation fund! Audio engineers and producers are programmed to figure it out as they go along. When…

It was less than two years ago when the name ‘Marcel Gnauk’ started popping up on numerous audio-related groups on social media, offering free sounds for people to download and use. Coming out of nowhere, he quickly became a regular; posting daily updates of his sound recording adventures and offering entirely new libraries of free-to-use sounds almost every week. Through clever and consistent internet marketing, his website – freetousesounds.com – now gets over 30,000 page views per month, and is one of the first that comes up in Google searches for free sounds. It also supports his lifestyle of continual travelling and recording. In this interview, Marcel talks about how he got started, how he took freetousesounds. com to the forefront of Google searches – and people’s minds – in…

Shure’s original Motiv MV88 was a reasonably svelte iOS stereo condenser mic. Sure, its chunky base plate gave it similar dimensions to an early Rode iXY, but it packed in the features to compensate. By opting for a Mid-Side stereo mic configuration, the MV88 allowed you to tailor your capture width in degrees from mono through to raw MS and every stereo flavour in-between. The Motiv M88+ is a bit plus-sized when compared with the original. It has the same finger-width capsule head, but its rear end has some real girth. The added bulk allowed Shure to squeeze it into a standard mic clip, and stuff in a headphone amplifier for real-time monitoring. With only a few volts of power available for phone peripherals to siphon off, these sorts of…

PRICE $299 CONTACT CMI Music & Audio (03) 9315 2244 or www.cmi.com.au PROS Battery-powered Built-in step sequencer with motion sequencing Connectivity with other modular equipment Unique sound Great value for money CONS Documentation needs improvement Power supply not included No MIDI input Patch pin headers feel delicate SUMMARY It’s the craziest Volca yet, but squeezes so much sound design and noise making potential into such a small package. The semi-modular Modular will drive some wild and others wild with delight, and for around $300 it’s well worth finding out which side of the fence you might stand.…

Blimey! Another pair of PMC monitors decorate my monitor bridge for the second time in 12 months. As I mentioned in my review of the Result6 monitors, I don’t see new PMC nearfield models that often, they’re simply not that prolific. The company’s sweetspot has, for many years, been in midfield and main monitors. The kind of monitors that require a thorough installation process, soffit mounting and a crane. Have a look at PMC’s site for the QB1 XBD-A for an idea of just how far PMC will go in terms of brute strength — at 10,425 Watts per side and weighing in at 290kg, the QB1 XBD-A will will hurl you into other side of next week should you dare run them at full mizzen. I’ll stick with the…

Let’s get straight down to business: the Neumann NDH20 is a closed back headphone with 38mm drivers, 150Ω impedance and a stated frequency response of 5Hz–30kHz. Orange accents are splashed around the futuristic design, on the foam inside the ear cups and at the tip of the cable. The headphones are large but comfortable and don’t feel like 388g when on my head. Build quality is second to none. The folding ear cups rotate on a solid quarter-circle joint connected just under the proudly embossed Neumann logo either side of the rubber-lined headband. The coiled cable plugs into the right ear cup. (A small gripe here — the plug tends to rub against my right shoulder with movement and this is quite ‘audible’ with the headphones on.) Also the cable’s…

Dennie Miller: Meyer Sound has long been a benchmark in sonic excellence, and they have an unparalleled commitment to quality in the way they hand build and test their loudspeakers. (If you’ve never toured their factory in Berkeley, you need to do this at least once in your lifetime.) After using a number of immersive mixing tools, I have to say the UI of Meyer’s SpaceMap Live is my favourite, thus far, and it carries on their tradition of creating some of the best tools in the business. It’s a little different compared to the look of many other platforms we are familiar with. I have to say the matrix view available in Compass is by far my favourite feature, since it allows you to see what the SpaceMap Live…

You know you’re pushing the envelope of mic design when you have to include a separate one-page manual explaining how to adjust a switch. For a long time, mic switches have had opposing outcomes. On the one hand, you want the switch to make it obvious what you’re, you know, switching. But you also don’t want to place it in a spot where it can accidentally switch between polar patterns, or bump in a pad, while it’s in use. Accommodating for this pragmatic tension, switches are typically either incredibly tiny and stiff (if mounted on the mic face), or hidden out of sight and out of reach. The switch on Aston’s Stealth has four positions. So how do you place it topside and not subject it to constant flicking between…

EVERYBODY NEEDS A NERO $720 | www.audient.com Audient’s Nero is a desktop monitor controller offering a comprehensive range of I/O, console-style monitor control, an assignable sub output, ‘Digital Attenuation Volume Matching’ and more. Four stereo analogue inputs, including two line level inputs, a dedicated cue mix input, one aux input (RCA or Mini Jack) and both optical and coaxial SPDIF inputs give you a wide variety of connectivity options. These can be fed to three stereo speaker outputs, one assignable sub output, and four headphone outputs. The I/O combination means Nero has both a monitoring grade headphone output for the engineer and three foldback headphone outs for the artists. Audient has developed its own Digital Attenuation Matching Technology, which matches the volume of the left and right channels of the…

Matt Corby’s next record may well be a completely self-produced affair. “I’ve always been heading that way,” he said. “It started pre-Telluric. I did this album in LA with my band and a couple of epic producers. A few too many people got involved, and it ended up being total dog s**t.” He came home from that experience and decided he would take the next five years to learn how to do everything himself. It was too soon for his debut album, Telluric, to show much fruit of that labour. It was recorded rather traditionally: a full band in Sing Sing Studios, with producer Dann Hume and engineer Matt Neighbour at the helm. Since then, Corby committed to practising a range of instruments and learning to play the drums properly.…

Let’s back up a bit… Why bother going down the ‘all analogue’ road at all? For years I’ve been hearing comments from veteran engineers and producers saying that a major problem with the digital recording process is the inexhaustible choice it offers via virtually unlimited tracks, endlessly tweakable parameters, huge range of plug-ins, and extensive editing options. “Why can’t these kids make a choice and stick to it?” they’d grumble, placing their coffee mugs on their $200,000 Neve consoles. Comments like this assume that without the limitations of vintage gear, all DAW-based engineers will automatically default to excessive production styles. The reality is that digital recording is the only way most of us can do our job; there isn’t another option. Most of us haven’t even been in the same…

In 2002, a virtual instrument software company deleted the space between the words ‘Spectra’ and ‘Sonics’, then applied for and received a US trademark for the name ‘Spectrasonics’. Instead of wasting their resources in a legal battle to use the company’s original name, Bill Cheney and Jim Romney decided they would concentrate on putting Dilley’s designs into useable modern packages with the original sound and build quality. They rebranded the company with the name Spectra 1964, chosen because 1964 was the year Spectra Sonics was formed. In the vintage console market, the names of consoles with Spectra Sonics parts is also confusing because Auditronics built Spectra Sonics desks for awhile, as did Flickinger, and there were many custom boards built that had all Spectra Sonics parts, but were not branded…

James Bellew: Brent’s monitoring position suits him best from a pragmatic point of view, but it’s worth noting that it’s not the best position from an acoustic point of view. Here are two frequency plots that show the pronounced difference between the two positions. Clearly the second position avoids the worst of the room modes. In an ideal world Brent would move his workstation and speakers to this sweet spot away from the front wall. But this would have meant less room for the multi-purpose area at the back of the room. Acoustics is very often a compromise and working within the practical constraints of the room, particularly in home studios, which are nearly always multi-purpose creative spaces.…

PRICE Zoom LiveTrak L-20 $1599 Tascam Model 24 $1999 CONTACT Zoom LiveTrak L-20 Dynamic Music: (02) 9939 1299 or info@dynamicmusic.com.au Tascam Model 24 CMI Music & Audio: (03) 9315 2244 or www.cmi.com.au SUMMARY While the Zoom LiveTrak L-20 and Tascam Model 24 are very similar in I/O and recording capabilities, you may choose one over the other depending on how you’ll use it — be it mixing and recording live shows, or tracking bands in a studio environment. Either way, these units offer a level of convenience, portability and immediacy that a computer + interface rig can’t touch.…

PRICE RRP $7749 CONTACT Interdyn: (03) 9426 3600 pro@pmcspeakers.com.au www.interdyn.com.au PROS Superior two-way sound Excellent room matching features Great connectivity CONS Priced out of reach to most SUMMARY Audio ‘beauty’ is in the ‘eye’ of the beholder at this end of the premium market. But with their superior imaging, extended bass response, connectivity, and ability to fine tune the response to your room, I rate PMC’s twotwo monitors very highly indeed. If you love the sound but don’t need the bells and whistles, then check out PMC’s Result6 (reviewed in AT127). Give Interdyn a buzz for a test drive.…