Archives
September 2009
This September, we get caught up on the world of recording software with a comprehensive look at the multitrack DAW packages currently on the market. It's hard to keep up on this stuff, so we combine reviews of recent upgrades to some of the major players -- Cubase, SONAR, and Pro Tools -- and talk about the current state of the art for many other players. You'll read about newcomers to the DAW world and some less-known but remarkable options available to recording musicians, including a walking tour of Acoustica Mixcraft 4, a strong contender at the entry level for Windows PCs.
We also discuss current trends in computer hardware, mention upcoming OS trends, offer a great article on drum replacement in Pro Tools using Beat Detective, and talk about moving audio projects between DAWs. We even have reviews on computer interfaces, control surfaces, and an inexpensive and unusual product that costs less than $30 but could save you thousands...!
If you're not all that into computer recording, fear not... there's a marvelous article on getting the famous Mark Knopfler/Robert Cray bluesy Strat sound in your recordings, over a dozen reviews including new speakers and an intriguing new large-condenser microphone, Readers' Tapes with Marty Peters, an interview with a home-studio ace who's now scoring not one but two major TV series, and much more. Whether or not you make your music with a computer, you'll find stuff to make you think, try new ideas, and come away smiling... all in the September RECORDING!
Pick it up now on the newsstand... and so you get your next issue early (and save on cost), why not hit the big red Subscribe Now button on this page and have RECORDING delivered to your door each month?
PreSonus FireStudio Tube
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Reviewed by
Darwin Grosse
PreSonus FireStudio Tube |
Reviewed by
Darwin Grosse
Tube preamps add character to a flexible FireWire interface.
Building a project studio can entail a lot of purchases. A minimal “modern” system needs a number of different products: computer audio interfaces, several differe......Expand
Tube preamps add character to a flexible FireWire interface.
Building a project studio can entail a lot of purchases. A minimal “modern” system needs a number of different products: computer audio interfaces, several different microphone preamps, a MIDI interface, a monitor control system and (at least occasionally) a mixer. In addition to the cost of all this gear, the space implications are worrisome if you are looking to keep your rig small or portable. With the FireStudio Tube, PreSonus takes a swipe at combining all of these functions into a single 1U-sized module, and I’d have to say that...
Read more in the September 2009 issue of RECORDING!
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M-Audio Studiophile CX5 Monitors
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Reviewed by
Lorenz Rychner
M-Audio Studiophile CX5 Monitors |
Reviewed by
Lorenz Rychner
A new biamplified monitor brings big sound to budget rooms.
The bi-amped and magnetically shielded CX5 sits in the middle of the Studiophile range from M-Audio, a new design that supplements but does not replace the company’......Expand
A new biamplified monitor brings big sound to budget rooms.
The bi-amped and magnetically shielded CX5 sits in the middle of the Studiophile range from M-Audio, a new design that supplements but does not replace the company’s well-liked BX5a Deluxe speaker....
Read more in the September 2009 issue of RECORDING!
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Gauge ECM-87 Microphone
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Reviewed by
Darwin Grosse
Gauge ECM-87 Microphone |
Reviewed by
Darwin Grosse
A classic look at an affordable price—does the sound deliver?
Quick—take a look at this mic. Can you tell me what it is? Surprise—you are looking at the Gauge ECM-87. With a body shape (and even a model number) meant to remi......Expand
A classic look at an affordable price—does the sound deliver?
Quick—take a look at this mic. Can you tell me what it is? Surprise—you are looking at the Gauge ECM-87. With a body shape (and even a model number) meant to remind us of a famous high-end mic, Gauge Microphones has hit the streets with an inexpensive microphone that begs you to believe it is much more. With Gauge owners Rob Chiarelli and Chandler Bridges putting their stamp of approval on the ECM-87, you would expect it to be something special....
Read more in the September 2009 issue of RECORDING!
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Acoustica Mixcraft 4: A Walking Tour
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Reviewed by
John Rossi III
Acoustica Mixcraft 4: A Walking Tour |
Reviewed by
John Rossi III
This entry-level DAW packs one heck of a punch, and we have a fully-mixed song created in our first two hours to prove it!
I was first introduced to Mixcraft at Winter NAMM in 2008. From the time that I got to play with it t......Expand
This entry-level DAW packs one heck of a punch, and we have a fully-mixed song created in our first two hours to prove it!
I was first introduced to Mixcraft at Winter NAMM in 2008. From the time that I got to play with it there I was convinced that this unconventional DAW application for Windows XP or Vista (currently in Version 3) had the potential to be the music creation platform for “the rest of us”. Here in its newest incarnation as Mixcraft 4, the “little program that could” has finally met or exceeded all of my expectations. Indeed, Mixcraft not only provides an exceptional jumping-off platform for the music production novice, but can also be useful as an adjunct to a high-end DAW for seasoned pros....
Read more in the September 2009 issue of RECORDING!
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Korg nanoSERIES Controllers
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Reviewed by
Mike Metlay
Korg nanoSERIES Controllers |
Reviewed by
Mike Metlay
Real control that fits in your laptop bag
Let’s say you have a successful computer recording rig and you’re interested in going mobile. You want to be able to offer some of the same services you have in your home studio to y......Expand
Real control that fits in your laptop bag
Let’s say you have a successful computer recording rig and you’re interested in going mobile. You want to be able to offer some of the same services you have in your home studio to your clients, or simply take advantage of them yourself when on the road with your band—tweaking mixes, tracking, or composing a little bit, without a ton of weight and added hardware.
So you buy a laptop and install your software onto it—little nor no hassle; you find a good small audio interface that covers the bases—hopefully pretty straightforward; and you get a portable external hard drive to hold your audio tracks—again, easy and cheap. You now have everything nicely in your laptop bag, and off you go...
...and within three or four sessions you’re cussing a blue streak as you try to track, mix, and play with no faders, no knobs, no keys, no controllers at all, doing everything with the mouse and the QWERTY on your laptop. Argh!...
Read more in the September 2009 issue of RECORDING!
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Echo Indigo DJx and IOx
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Reviewed by
Darwin Grosse
Echo Indigo DJx and IOx |
Reviewed by
Darwin Grosse
The Indigo experience—slimmer, faster, sexier
Many recent articles in Recording Magazine have discussed mobile applications of recording. Given that most laptops are fully outfitted with USB and FireWire ports, the mobile en......Expand
The Indigo experience—slimmer, faster, sexier
Many recent articles in Recording Magazine have discussed mobile applications of recording. Given that most laptops are fully outfitted with USB and FireWire ports, the mobile engineer is ready for almost any mobile recording situation. However, there are occasions when we want to limit the amount of equipment we are carrying to a gig; we may have limited setup area at the recording location, or we may want to limit the equipment that will be flying with us.
Echo is well known for its compact audio interfaces; back in May 2003 we reviewed the Indigo PCMCIA/CardBus audio card, which was joined by the Indigo io (reviewed October 2004) and the Indigo dj. Echo now has produced the first series of audio cards that use the ExpressCard hardware connection...
Read more in the September 2009 issue of RECORDING!
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KB Covers
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Reviewed by
Mike Metlay
KB Covers |
Reviewed by
Mike Metlay
Educate yourself, protect your Mac
KB Covers are just that: covers custom-fitted for recent-model Apple keyboards, made of soft silicone that drapes over the keys to keep out dirt, liquids, and debris. They’re available in a......Expand
Educate yourself, protect your Mac
KB Covers are just that: covers custom-fitted for recent-model Apple keyboards, made of soft silicone that drapes over the keys to keep out dirt, liquids, and debris. They’re available in a variety of styles: clear, colored, large type, foreign language, Dvorak—or printed with color-coded information on each key, providing the user with a literally hands-on “cheat sheet” for keyboard combinations and shortcuts in a particular application....
Read more in the September 2009 issue of RECORDING!
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From Home Studio To Network TV—An Interview with Jan Stevens
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Interviewed by
Lorenz Rychner
From Home Studio To Network TV—An Interview with Jan Stevens |
Interviewed by
Lorenz Rychner
Jan Stevens creates audio for everything from Scrubs to Samantha Who?, and he does it all from home. How? We ask -- he tells.
The music you hear on television these days rarely was recorded on the “sound stage” of yesteryear......Expand
Jan Stevens creates audio for everything from Scrubs to Samantha Who?, and he does it all from home. How? We ask -- he tells.
The music you hear on television these days rarely was recorded on the “sound stage” of yesteryear. Much of what you hear was bought or licensed “as is”, but some of it may still have been composed to order, in the traditional sense of “underscore”. In the latter case it was probably recorded by the composer, with or without any outside help.
The music still comes first, of course—the traditional skills of composition, of orchestration, of adapting musical ideas to serve the picture, they are as important as ever. But since the industry has moved away from the traditional sound stage, composer now wear many more hats: s/he not only writes but also produces the music, maybe plays some or all of of it, using live instruments and samples, and also contracts and conducts live players, records the session, and possibly even mixes the first of several mixes.
Earlier this year I visited with Jan Stevens in his studio at the back of his residence in Los Angeles, CA...
Read more in the September 2009 issue of RECORDING!
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The DAWs of 2009
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Written by
Paul Vnuk Jr., John Rossi III, Mark Hornsby, and Mike Metlay
The DAWs of 2009 |
Written by
Paul Vnuk Jr., John Rossi III, Mark Hornsby, and Mike Metlay
It's all here -- upgrade reviews for Cubase 5, SONAR 8, and Pro Tools 8, an overview of current computer-recording offerings, a look at future prospects, and a quick survey of developments in hardware and operating systems. A snapshot of the state......Expand
It's all here -- upgrade reviews for Cubase 5, SONAR 8, and Pro Tools 8, an overview of current computer-recording offerings, a look at future prospects, and a quick survey of developments in hardware and operating systems. A snapshot of the state of the art...
Staying ahead of DAW developments, and the accelerating improvements in the computers running them, is a huge job. In this article, we cover the latest versions of Cubase, SONAR, and Pro Tools with update reviews; provide a survey of other major DAWs with pointers to recent reviews; look at emerging new players in the DAW market, which has seen more activity this year than in quite some time; and finish up with a survey of what’s new under the hood in Windows and Mac hardware and operating systems. Read, learn, and get wise!...
Read more in the September 2009 issue of RECORDING!
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RECORDING's Drum Column
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Written by
Mark Hornsby
RECORDING's Drum Column |
Written by
Mark Hornsby
In this month’s Drum Column we start a 2-part look at making drums behave in your Pro Tools DAW. Mark Hornsby’s ready with the enlightenment...
Of the numerous ways to edit drums in Pro Tools, the most immediate one that com......Expand
In this month’s Drum Column we start a 2-part look at making drums behave in your Pro Tools DAW. Mark Hornsby’s ready with the enlightenment...
Of the numerous ways to edit drums in Pro Tools, the most immediate one that comes to people’s minds is Beat Detective. Because Beat Detective can be perceived as tricky or hard to use, and since there are other ways to edit drums in Pro Tools, a lot of people have shied away from using Beat Detective...
Read more in the September 2009 issue of RECORDING!
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RECORDING's Guitar Column
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Written by
Joe Albano
RECORDING's Guitar Column |
Written by
Joe Albano
We wrap up our series on famous guitar tones with a sound made famous on many blues and rock hits. Let’s get out... of phase, that is.
This month we’re going to look at one very specific tone from one specific guitar—the fam......Expand
We wrap up our series on famous guitar tones with a sound made famous on many blues and rock hits. Let’s get out... of phase, that is.
This month we’re going to look at one very specific tone from one specific guitar—the famous “Out-of-Phase” sound that is synonymous with the Fender Stratocaster, which I’ll hereafter refer to as the “OoPh” (pronounced “oof”, I guess. Don’t all thank me at once). This is the unique, somewhat hollow tonality that results from the combination of the Strat’s third (middle) pickup with either of the other two, neck or bridge, pickups. Any guitarist who’s ever played a Strat has at some time turned to this sound, but I’ll refer to just two, who are strongly associated with the tone—rocker Mark Knopfler and bluesman Robert Cray...
Read more in the September 2009 issue of RECORDING!
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DAW Details
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Written by
Gary Eskow
DAW Details |
Written by
Gary Eskow
In this month’s DAW Details, Gary Eskow does a friend a favor, and finds out the hard way that moving files from one audio program to another isn’t always trivial....
Are you one of those highly experienced engineer types wh......Expand
In this month’s DAW Details, Gary Eskow does a friend a favor, and finds out the hard way that moving files from one audio program to another isn’t always trivial....
Are you one of those highly experienced engineer types who can handle any task thrown at you without losing your cool? If so, then this article is not for you; it’s aimed at the project studio owner who knows everything about his DAW necessary to create her own tracks but has not explored its every nook and cranny, and yet is willing to step outside the comfort zone to try and help a friend....
Read more in the September 2009 issue of RECORDING!
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Fade Out
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Written by
Mike Metlay
Fade Out |
Written by
Mike Metlay
Tears Of Blood And Rage.
Recently I was discussing an upcoming computer upgrade with my systems-administrator friend Mike Beebe and asked for feedback on what to expect. Mike looked at me for a moment and then said in the so......Expand
Tears Of Blood And Rage.
Recently I was discussing an upcoming computer upgrade with my systems-administrator friend Mike Beebe and asked for feedback on what to expect. Mike looked at me for a moment and then said in the sorrowful tone one usually reserves for telling a child about the death of a pet goldfish: “Doctor M, you will weep tears of blood and rage.”...
Read more in the September 2009 issue of RECORDING!
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