It’s getting chillier, which means fewer festivals, and more reason to bunker down in the studio, or do a bit of routine maintenance. This issue we asked Andrew Steel to give us some solid pointers about acoustic treatment in the real world, and he’s pulled out 14 key pieces of advice about stuff that a lot of people get wrong. It all comes from years of experience with regular studio Joe’s and the wild and wacky things they get up to. We also had a chat to Roger D’Arcy from Recording Architecture about his 25 years in the studio design business, and to local designer John Sayers and acoustician David Spargo on what they’ve been up to.

As well as the usual news about what’s been happening around the studio traps, we’ve added a bit of live news too. Digging deeper into our feature stories, we have a great article from Andrew Bencina, who made tracks in the Outback, and helped set up a recording studio for a community project. It’s a great read, and insight into a vibrant artistic community, that is benefiting from the support of great people, and a gang of local pro audio distributors who chipped in with some top gear.

We also find out how the sound was created for Battlefield 3 – one of the most realistic war games going around – from EA’s DICE audio team. What it takes to build your own Arduino doomsday MIDI controllers with Author & Punisher’s Tristan Shone. How Steve Levine recreated ’60s soul music with a combination of old and new school techniques. And had a chat to Eddie Kramer about his earlier years, and how he developed his approach from a mix of classical and pop recording techniques.

On top of all that, we’ve got some an evaluation and tips on how to use Plugin Alliance’s BIG4 bundle’s M/S tools, a roundup of some of the best 500 series compressors for your lunchbox, a look at ADAM’s A77X 3-way monitors, and Turbosound’s mini Milan MiO package.

We’re also excited to be partnering with the Propellerhead Producer’s Conference again this year. The last time this was around was a few years ago and was well worth the entry back then. The tickets have been slashed this time round (even though it was sold out last go round) and it’s still full of great panels where you can ask industry insiders about how to get your music out there, as well as witness a lot of great Propellerhead demos. Read about it below.

All the best, and happy reading.

Mark Davie

Big news for AudioTechnology is the magazine is now available as a digital edition on Zinio. Zinio is a cross-platform magazine subscription service that lets you download and read AudioTechnology on your iDevice, Android device or desktop computer, anytime, anywhere. For now, we’re offering one-off issue subscriptions and a digital only subscription, but we’ll soon have a storming upgrade offer to all our valued subscribers that want to add a bit of digital convenience to their reading experience. You can check it out here.

Hopefully you will have received your latest copy of AudioTechnology in the mail by now. If not, hold tight, it’s coming. This issue is an award-winning one. Not us, but some other really talented people. Straight off the bat, Franc Tetaz has a chat with AudioTechnology about his deserving double scoop of Engineer and Producer of the Year at the ARIAs for his work on Gotye’s smash hit Somebody That I Used To Know. We also dive into Boy & Bear’s Album Of The Year Moonfire with producer Joe Chiccarelli and Killian Gavin from the band. Adele’s Grammy-winning producer Paul Epworth discusses his approach to creating hit records that sound ‘real’, and 2012 Grammy-winner Elliot Scheiner has the ‘Last Word’.

There’s heaps more: tutorials, gear reviews, what’s been happening around the studio traps, a historic account of the Decca Tree’s evolution, a local underground psych rock haven… oh, and our Mobile App Special! Speaking of which…

iPad/Tablet Edition: Other big news for AudioTechnology is the magazine is now available as a digital edition on Zinio. Zinio is a cross-platform magazine subscription service that lets you download and read AudioTechnology on your iDevice, Android device or desktop computer, anytime, anywhere. For now, we’re offering one-off issue subscriptions and a digital only subscription, but we’ll soon have a storming upgrade offer to all our valued subscribers that want to add a bit of digital convenience to their reading experience. For now, you can find us in the Entertainment/Music section or search ‘audiotechnology’ at zinio.com, or within a tablet app. Check it out and see if it’s for you. 

Happy reading,

Mark Davie, Editor

Jonathan Burnside’s tutorial ‘Thinking In & Out Of The Box: Part 1’ is about getting the most of a studio experience, before retiring to your bedroom to mix in the box. The focus is on preparation and getting the most out of great gear. Jonathan and Slow Chase have kindly agreed to let AudioTechnology readers have a play around with the raw tracks and create a mix. To have your mix evaluated by AudioTechnology’s editorial team, Adam from Slow Chase, and Jonathan Burnside, upload your mix to Soundcloud and send a link to mark@audiotechnology.com.au. The best four mixes will win some nifty plug-ins to help with their next mix.

Check out Slow Chase

Recorded at Mixmasters
21 Darwin Ave, Hawthorndene, SA
(08) 8278 8506

All songs are copyright protected © Slow Chase ℗ Adam Gresty

 Download the Stems here! (178mb)

Jonathan explains the process a little more: “Here are the individual tracks’ signal chains. All tracks went into IZ Technologies Radar V Nyquist analogue to digital converters as a front end for a ProTools HD TDM system and were recorded at 88.2k, 24 bit. For the purpose of this online posting for AudioTechnologies readers, the tracks were converted to 44.1k, 24 bit.

Input chart for Slow Chase ‘Exorcism’ tracks:

2nd Guitars – AEA R92 ribbon mic / AEA TRP preamp

Bass Amp – Neumann U67 tube mic / Telefuken V76 / Retro Instruments 2A3A tube equaliser

Bass DI – Avalon U5 Active Direct Box / Universal Audio LA2A tube compressor / Pultec EQ P1A tube equaliser

Drum Room – Calrec Soundfield w/ proprietary preamp and controller

Floor Tom – Josephson E22s condenser mic / Neve 1064 preamp

Hi Hat – RCA DX 77 ribbon mic / Neve 1064 preamp

Kick Drum – Neumann 47 FET condenser mic / Neve 1064 preamp / Pultec EQ P1A tube equalizer

Kick Drum – Audio Technica ATM 250 dynamic mic / Neve 1064 preamp / Retro Instruments 2A3A tube equalizer

Main Vocal – AEA A440 active ribbon microphone / Telefunken V76 tube preamp /  Retro Instruments 176 tube limiter / Pultec EQ P1A tube equalizer

Melodyned Clean Guitars – AEA R92 ribbon mic / AEA TRP preamp (pitched corrected w/ Melodyne after tracking)

Drum Overheads – Neumann U47 tube mic / Neve 1064 preamps /  Vertigo VSC-2 Quad Discrete VCA compressor/ Chandler Curvebender Equalizer

Blumlein Stereo Drum Room – Royer SF24 / Neve 1064 preamps / Empirical Labs EL8X Distressor compressors

Smashed Drum Room – AEA A440 active ribbon microphone / Telefunken V76 tube preamp /  Retro Audio 176 tube compressor / Pultec EQ P1A tube equalizer

Top Snare – Josephson E22s condensor mic / Neve 1064 preamp

Bottom Snare – Sennheiser 421 dynamic mic  / Neve 1064 preamp

Vocals for Doubling – AEA A440 active ribbon microphone / Telefunken V76 /  Retro Audio 176 tube compressor / Pultec EQ P1A tube equalizer

The doubled guitars and vocals were created by compiling second tracks from unused outtakes. I’ll tighten those further before I mix but I start out by getting tracks like this created. I use this technique as it saves time in the studio because we never have to take the time to actually play additional tracks as doubles. Of course, this only works on parts that are exactly the same through every take and are played or sung consistently.

The ‘Smashed Drum Room’ signal chain and mic are the same as the lead vocal. For drums, I used radical settings on the preamp and compressor. When we moved to vocal overdubs for a particular song, I would switch back to the kinder and gentler vocal settings I had written down.

Try downloading the tracks and experimenting with mixing the song. Play around with the drum sound by using some mic groups predominantly and others not at all. While the song points to the broad brush strokes the mix might be painted with, the attitude of the mix can still vary a lot depending on the mic choices. Be mindful of the phase relationship between various mic pairs and between bass DI’s and bass amps. I often use variable phase boxes, such as Little Labs IBP, if I’m running odd combinations or bass DI and amp simultaneously.

Next month, I’ll post my final mix of ‘Exorcism’ and look at the techniques I used in creating it. I’ll also discuss the specific compression and EQ-ing choices I made during tracking.”

I’d like to hear your questions or comments. Contact me through my website: jonathanburnside.com

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.