Text: Greg Walker

Zoom has been doing the portable recorder thing for
a long time now. Through years of development and refinement of the basic concepts, as well as throwing in various bells and whistles, its pretty much figured out how to tick all the boxes in terms of ergonomics, features and sound quality. Zoom’s latest offering, the H2n, is not the smallest recording device ever made but instead offers an impressive array of features including X/Y, mid-side and surround recording as well as handy extras such as a built-in speaker, tuner and metronome while being easy to operate and pretty light on the wallet by today’s standards.

POCKET ROCKET
At 67.6mm x 113.85mm the H2n is about the length and width of an old-fashioned audio cassette while curving out to a relatively tubby 42.7mm in depth and weighing in at 130g without batteries. It’s compact enough to sit inconspicuously on a desk during an interview while exuding a modestly professional aura thanks to the shiny black plastic finish and all-concealing black steel mesh microphone cage. Personally, I like this look better than the exposed microphone style, where I immediately imagine all the ways I could accidentally damage the device beyond repair. The unit runs on two standard AA batteries for up to 20 hours when recording at 44.1kHz, which is generous. Durability is an oft-overlooked aspect of the mini-recorder market but the H2n seems sturdy enough and during
the couple of months I’ve been using it there’s been no reliability issues whatsoever. Having said that, I wouldn’t be game to drop it on a hard floor as there’s a lot of electronics lurking just below the surface of the H2n.

CONNECT FOUR
One of the aspects I really like about the Zoom’s latest offering is the front of the device: a screen that keeps you informed of all vital signs and a large Record button with a red dot on it – nice and to the point! The left side is peppered with I/O ports: minijacks for external mic input, headphones and dedicated remote port, mini USB for computer data interfacing and a +/- volume control. On the right side of the unit there’s a menu button, multi-function transport control (play, fast forward, rewind and stop),
a generously-proportioned continuously variable record level dial and a power switch that can be latched to prevent accidental power-downs at inappropriate moments. On the top of the unit is the real audio candy: an illuminated switch that selects any one of the four available microphone recording patterns. These are stereo X/Y, stereo MS, four- channel surround or four-channel internally summed to stereo. The screen itself is a tastefully backlit number which in recording mode offers information on battery status,
microphone pattern, recording time, sample resolution and bit-rate, any limiting or compression settings as well as an easily visible and responsive LED meter and a clock.

WHAT’S ON THE MENU
The H2n’s features run quite deep once you head into the menu and start tooling around. You’ve got a lot of options for compression and limiting setups, low-cut filtering and optional automatic recording gain adjustment. You can tinker with the mid-side spread as well as parameters such as adjustable playback speed, raw or pre-mixed MS processing, and the list goes on. File management is very straight forward. Your computer sees the H2n as a standard USB storage device and the files (stored internally on a standard SD or SDHC card) can be downloaded in a jiffy. The H2n will record at up to 96kHz resolution in stereo modes and 48kHz in four-channel modes as well as in compressed MP3 format. As an added bonus the unit ships with Steinberg’s Wavelab LE software.

CAPTURE & RELEASE
I’m quite fond of the H2n. Firstly, the sound quality is excellent, and with a little tinkering of the record levels and limiter settings you can capture everything from live gigs to quiet atmospheres with relative ease. Also the continuously variable record level control sets it a peg above the dreaded ‘auto-record level only’ devices.
Secondly, the MS and surround recording modes are just fun! I’ve done some ambient recordings walking around rooms and outdoor locations and the representation these modes give you of physical spaces can be genuinely stunning. If you’ve recorded in Raw mode you can then of course drag it all back into your DAW and tweak it to your heart’s content. I’ve recorded interviews, rehearsals, impromptu kitchen jams and birds singing in the backyard, and in each of these cases the surround capabilities of
the H2n mean I’m getting a better representation of what actually happened than I would with a stereo-only device.
Finally, I find the little fella very easy to use, only delving into the manual and menus now and again when I need to tweak something for a particular scenario. In general, I just grab the H2n and hit the Record button – a great thing in my book and testament to the oft forgotten fact that although many machines like this offer an abundance of features, they should help you concentrate on what you record, not how you record it. And in this respect, Zoom has hit the bullseye with the H2n.

AT 85 is about to hit, chock full of yuletide goodness. It’s the first time we’ve not had a human on the cover for years, but it’s not every issue that we’re able to exclusively provide you with one of the first full reviews of ProTools 10 in the world. If you’re a ProTools user – from LE to HD – then you’ll want to get your hands on this issue – find out if Avid’s big release is going to rock your world.

If ProTools 10 wasn’t on the cover then Coldplay may well have been. This issue we spend time with British mix engineer maestro, Mark ‘Spike’ Stent, in his new-ish LA studio. Spike mixed most of Mylo Xyloto and offers some real insight into how he shaped the Coldplay sound. Yes, he’s packed up his beloved G Series SSL from his old London digs… and his ever-reliable KRK 9000 monitors.

We head backstage on the Kings of Leon tour. FOH Engineer Brent Rawlings was very generous with his time and expertise. His fortunes have almost exactly followed the band’s – he’s been their first and only FOH sound guy – and it’s fascinating to hear how Brent has raised his game and improved his chops, to cater for the bigger arenas and greater expectations. He mixes a great-sounding show. You’ll want to hear about his drum miking technique especially.

Videogame fans will be right into the Batman Arkham City feature. If you harbour any lingering suspicions that sound for gaming is somehow a poor cousin to ‘real’ recording and sound design then the story behind Arkham City – with over two hours of orchestral score, thousands of sound effects, and 13,000 lines of dialogue, populating some 40+ hours of game-play – will disabuse you of any such notion.

AT85 is bulging with reviews of some serious new gear. Apart from PT10, we run the rule over Reason 6 (with the Balance controller), Studio One v2, and preview the Steinberg CMC modular controllers. We get one of the first looks at the new TC Helicon VoiceLive Rack, Digico SD11, the Zoom H2n, the Line6 wireless mic systems… and Greg Simmons gives the rectangular diaphragms of Swedish mic stalwarts, Pearl, a thorough going-over.

Finally, send us your thoughts on mobile audio apps –  your favourites, how they’ve changed your work methods etc. We’ll publish the best contributions in AT86 and lavish prizes on you.

Have a great Christmas holiday season and a fabulous new year.

AT Team.

What with all the excitement of Integrate and the distractions of hosting engineering royalty Geoff Emerick, it feels like an ice age since the last AT magazine. Well, it’s been a while anyway. So just to stop those AT delirium tremens, we’re uploading the digital version of AT84 pronto. It’s on the AudioTechnology site right now.

You’ll see that we’re going large with our Gotye interview. Wally de Backer, aka Gotye, fresh from winning his ‘Best Producer’ ARIA spoke to us during the Melbourne leg of his national tour. We spoke to him about how he works his sound – from jamming ideas within Ableton Live, all the way through to translating that sound into a live-on-stage experience for audiences.

Andy Stewart’s panning article is really noteworthy this issue. Andy questions a number of mixing conventions and challenges your lazy fallback positions. There are some real mixing nuggets here you won’t want to miss.

Rounding out the rest of the issue, we have one of the world’s first Midas Pro2 reviews, some serious studio eye-candy from Lenny Kravitz’s joint in The Bahamas, Andy can’t believe how good the new Event 20/20s are for the dosh, we check out the World Cup Opening Ceremony’s sound, Rob Squire jots down his Tech’s List of 10 (actually 11) Things You Should Never Do, and there is, of course, lots, lots more.

As you can see from Issue 83’s cover this is a special edition, featuring Andy Stewart’s exclusive interview with The Beatles engineer of choice, Geoff Emerick.

AT’s heart is all aflutter as we ready ourselves for Geoff’s imminent arrival as he and fellow Abbey Road stalwart Richard Lush prepare to take to the stage at Integrate. Andy will play David Frost for a once-in-a-lifetime session with these two studio legends, as they headline Integrate on the afternoon of Day 2 of the show. Those lucky enough to be there will hear Geoff and Richard talking through mono masters of classic tracks and relive the days of sharing a studio with the most famous band of all. There are still tickets available but you’d best get on your bikes.

Click here to register and secure your tickets.

Issue 83 doesn’t stop at one audio legend however, as we cover the making of Paul Simon’s latest effort, produced by Phil Ramone. We also investigate sound design for the hit game titles, Portal 2 and Limbo, and stick our head into an indie rock gig with Modest Mouse.
In our regulars, Home Grown meets Kikuyu for the making of their new album, Hunter Gathered, Martin Walker abandons the multi-boot partition, and Brad Watts remains wary of OSX Lion in PC and Mac Audio respectively. Rick O’Neil thanks the heavens for his ‘20/20’ hearing. Plus, What’s On features the revamped Gig Piglet HQ and Shanghai Twang Studios, along with the latest gossip from around the studio traps.

Our tutorials section sees Stav breaking all the rules in the name of creativity, Rob Squire wondering where all the spare parts are hiding in On The Bench, and Blair Joscelyn shows us how to churn out a choon in eight hours!

Reviews include the Radial Engineering Workhorse 500-series rack, Arturia’s Origin Keyboard, Mackie’s MR8 mk2 powered nearfields, JBL’s EON 515XT active PA, the UAD-2 Satellite plug-in DSP unit, and Vertigo’s analogue mastering hub – the VSM-2 Mix Satellite. Plus there’s some quirky bits of hardware in our mini-reviews section.

All that ‘out now’, as they say. Keep an eye out for AT83 at all good newsagents, or have a scoot through our online version right here.

We hope you enjoy!

The AT-Team.

Well, another issue of AudioTechnology magazine has been sent into the wild. Issue 82 is brimming with audio-centric tidbits and tips, and, like the previous two issues, is available online for your complimentary viewing pleasure.

Issue 82 sees producer extraordinaire, Don Was, fill us in on his recent album work with Lucinda Williams. We also catch up with Mark Moffatt – the Australian ex-pat who’s engineered his way around the world, finally landing firmly on his feet in Nashville.

In our regulars, Home Grown meets Megastick Fanfare: according to the band’s mix engineer they should be given a wide berth by anyone contemplating working with them – sounds ominous. In PC and Mac Audio respectively, Martin Walker reveals hidden latency in Firewire interfaces while Brad Watts urges us to tighten up over the winter months – Spring should sprout new MacPros. Plus, the ever-controversial Rick O’Neil casts a net or three into the murky waters of the audio industry to catch a paying client or two.

In our tutorials division, Stav is back making light work of a tricky session with MS microphone techniques, Rob Squire reveals the component most likely to fail in your pro audio equipment in On The Bench, and Andy Stewart explores how panning helps recreate three-dimensional space and maintain balance in studio mixes.

Reviews include the current subscription prize, Arturia’s Spark drum production centre, Quested’s new V2108 active monitors and X15 passive sub, Grover Notting’s CODE 1.5 monitors, various LKFS loudness meter plug-ins, Drumagog 5, Korg’s Monotribe analogue munchkin, and Guy Harrison walks us through the construction of a JLM Mono preamp kit. Heck, we’ve even got microphones on show, with the Heil Sound HDK-8 drum microphone kit and the Electro-Voice RE320 dynamic mic.

Go forth, and record!

The AT-Team.

Issue 81 of AudioTechnology magazine is about to hit the ground running. As with issue 80, we’re offering the entire magazine online for your viewing and reading pleasure. Head to the AudioTechnology website for a gander!

This issue, AT penetrates the haze of gunja smoke backstage at Supafest to get the low-down from Dave Aron on mixing the biggest hip-hop act on the planet, Snoop Dogg!

Plus, we get inside the head of iconic engineer/producer, Flood, to find out how he sculpted PJ Harvey’s latest piece of album art. We also head over to one of the biggest music festivals in the world – South By Southwest. AT had an insider in the crowd attempting to blend in with the locals.

In our regular inclusions, HomeGrown sees Synth/noise artist, Henry, and electronica DJ, Cornel, get together to create a dirty country rock album, while Martin Walker reveals the realities of recording at 192kHz and Brad Watts sticks his head into the cloud! For those who read magazines backwards, Rick O’Neil posts his musings all the way from Greece – isn’t the internet grand!

Tutorial-wise, Rob Squire looks at the benefits of carrying custom made pads for those occasions where you’re mics are too hot to handle in On The Bench. Our reviews section includes our recent subscription prize: thew mighty SSL Nucleus DAW controller Soundcraft’s Si Compact live digital console, Inter-M’s V2-4000 power amp, the somewhat obscure Evol Audio Fucifier distortion unit, and Electro Voice’s TX1122FM and TX1152FM passive foldback wedges. There’s also a compendium of DAW reviews including Sonar X1 Producer, Steinberg’s Cubase 6, and Sequoia 11. In fact, should you fancy a copy of Cubase 6 you should check out this issue’s subscription prize competition. We’ve got six copies bequeath to subscribers – all you need do is subscribe and answer the competition question correctly.

Enjoy,

The AT-Team.

Welcome to Issue 80 of AudioTechnology magazine. For the first time we’re offering the entire magazine online for your viewing and reading pleasure. Head to the AudioTechnology website and soak it up at your leisure!

This issue we talk to Pearl Jam’s all-round engineer/mixer/producer Brett Eliason about the making of Pearl Jam Live on Ten Legs. We also catch up with Tony Blanc and Bill Chrysler to chat about Rihanna’s larger-than-life R&B sound, and post-production veteran Doron Kipen shares his philosophies on film sound, and the immersive nature of the Soundfield microphone.

Our regular sections include a new-look news section – bursting at the seams with the current crop of audio nick-nacks – HomeGrown investigates producer/engineer/recording artist, Nick Huggins, while Martin Walker circuit-bends his PC and Brad Watts presents a complete recording package for less than 800 bucks! For those who read AudioTechnology from the back, Rick O’Neil tells us about the things your clients really want, but will probably never tell you.

Tutorials include our cover story, with Howard Page discussing what to do with all that trouser flappin’ low end. Other pearls include Stav revealing a compression technique that will blow your mind, Rob Squire making some noise about noise, and Jan Muths questioning if 0dBFS is really where we should be aiming – you’ll be surprised with his findings.

There are reviews aplenty, with appraisals of gear from Bricasti, BeezNeez, Heil Sound, JLM Audio, Kawai and RME. Plus, there’s still time to subscribe to AudioTechnology and be in the running to win the stupendous SSL Nucleus control surface. Scroll down for the low-down, or click here to subscribe.

Enjoy,

The AT-Team

Welcome to Issue 79 of AudioTechnology, our first for 2011 and we’ve some fabulous news to share.

We’ve been busy as bees organising reams of data into the AudioTechnology Archive – a compendium of just about every review, feature, tutorial and column AT has ever printed, available for free download via the AudioTechnology website.

Already there are thousands of articles available, with more being added as we compile each and every AT issue for your downloading pleasure. So if you’re searching for that old AT article there’s now one place to find it – The AudioTechnology Magazine Archive.

Next, we don our Santa suits to tell you about a stupendous subscription prize. Thanks to Amber Technology we’re bequeathing an SSL Nucleus control surface to one incredibly fortunate AT subscriber. Scroll down for the low-down, or click here to subscribe.

In Issue 79, Andy Stewart interviews Chris Dugan, Green Day’s recording engineer, and takes a secret discovery tour around the band’s sonic playground. We also catch up with Gareth Stuckey for the West Coast leg of his U.S. tour diary, while Home Grown gate crashes the world of beats, rap, and megaphones to talk to hip-hop exponent, Leigh Ryan (aka Plutonic).

As always, there’s a swags of the latest news up front (including a exclusive interview with Tom ‘I just sold SAE for $300m’ Misner), and up the back, Rick O’Neil takes us ‘dry sailing’ – yes, we know… you’ll have to read it to find out. Martin Walker asks us to tread carefully over Intel’s new Sandy Bridge and Brad Watts runs rampant through Apple’s App Store.

Tutorials abound: with Stav exploring the wide world of click tracks, Rob Squire offers us several options for interfacing iDevices into our studio or live production setup, and James Wilkinson discusses what can happen when an album project gets way, wa-a-a-ay out of hand!

Of course we’ve got reviews, including Avid ProTools 9, the JoeCo Black Box Recorder and Korg’s pocket-rocket Monotron. Brent Heber introduces us to Supermegaultragroovy and Fuzzmeasure (acoustic room analysis software) and Calum Orr checks out the latest Steinberg Wavelab instalment (for Mac OSX!).

We hope you enjoy Issue 79.

The AT-Team.

Well, the silly season is in full swing, and so is our final issue of AudioTechnology for 2010. AT subscribers: your copies are headed to your mailbox now, and newsagencies will be vending copies shortly thereafter. We’ve got plenty of audio-centric news, reviews and captivating views to fill your Christmas stockings over the summer holiday season, so pull up a stump and get stuck into Issue 78.

Issue 78 opens with Andy Stewart asking you, our dear readership, what audio tools you’d like to see hit the runway during 2011. He also interviews one of Australia’s national music industry treasures, David Briggs. The mag also covers the making of two eminent albums, both construed by seminal producer, Daniel Lanois – one his own, the other for Neil Young. We also speak to Shihad’s Tom Larkin in Home Grown, while Gareth Stuckey takes us on tour Stateside.

Our regular sections are brimming with Chrissy cheer: Rick O’Neil reminisces about the sounds of yore, Martin Walker opens the throttle on your PC and Brad Watts iChats-up an interstate tracking session.

We’ve plenty of tutorial action for you too: Stav points to the bass horizon, Rob Squire designs us a DIY monitor controller, while Chris Vallejo offers some cheap and cheerful gift ideas for your studio. Reviews are bountiful, with Avid’s latest flagship interface, the JoeCo ‘Black-Box’ recorder, mics from Royer and Audio-Technica, along with dishy treats from RME, Phonic,Tascam, and Eigenlabs all under the microscope. We’re also giving away two subscription prizes from Que Audio – shotgun mic kits for the videographers amongst us.

Hello to one and all.

Welcome to Issue 77 of AudioTechnology, our first issue following Integrate 2010. Firstly, we’d love to thank everyone who attended the AT World seminars, panels and forums – without you AT World would not have been such a success. A final roundup of the three-day event appears in Issue 77. Subscribers will be receiving AT77 in the post right about now, and you can grab a copy from your newsagent during the coming days.

In Issue 77, Andy Stewart expounds his 6/8/6 theory on production verses songwriting, we interview legendary FOH guy, Big Mick Hughes – the man behind Metallica’s live sound. We also meet Jim Moginie, and discover what he’s been up to post Midnight Oil. Speaking of legends, Home Grown talks to Sydney recording luminary, Jim Blackfoot of Blackfoot Sound.

In our regular inclusions, there’s a bags of news about new gear (as always), Rick O’Neil introduces us to ‘The Maintenance Beast’, while Martin Walker and Brad Watts do interesting things with hard drives.

We’ve got a bundle of tutorials for you. Stav gets into a bit of ‘weaving’ for the sake of clarity, Greg Walker makes some valid points about choosing a producer, and Graeme Hague offers some advice on getting the most out of your foldback system, and tips on getting more out of FXpansion’s BFD2. We also learn how to route cables in and out of your studio with an article on constructing soundproof room penetrations from first-time contributor, Greg Tailby.

Reviews abound with appraisals on the Turbosound Milan M15 portable PA, Nagra’s LB recorder, Violet Design’s Wedge and Black Knight large-diaphragm condenser mics, Adam Audio’s S2X two-way nearfields, and Gareth Stuckey files his user-report on the Digico SD8 digital console. Finally, we’re giving away a Violet Design Wedge microphone valued at $899 as a subscription prize – superb!

We hope you enjoy Issue 77!

The AT-Team