Vol. Twenty Seven - Number Five

FEBRUARY 2014
VOL. TWENTY SEVEN NUMBER FIVE
FEBRUARY 2014
USA $5.99
CANADA $5.99
PUBLISHER: Thomas Hawley

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER: Brent Heintz
EDITORIAL
EDITOR: Mike Metlay

SENIOR EDITOR: Lorenz Rychner
TECHNICAL CONSULTANT: Paul Vnuk Jr.
EDITOR AT LARGE: Beto Hale
MSICO PRO EDITOR: Fernando Curiel
CONTRIBUTORS
Eleanor Goldfield, Paul Vnuk Jr.,
John McVey, Bruce Kaphan,
Joe Albano, Marty Peters,
Eric Ferguson
Sing, sing a song

If youre of a certain generation, those four words will resonate with you strongly. For
many people who grew up in the 1970s, that song on Sesame Street was their first affirmation that it was okay to sing out loud, sing out strong. Of course, those of us who
went into pro audio have to stop singing before we get to the second-to-last line: Dont
worry if its not good enough for anyone else to hear...
Yeah, not so much. We worry if our recorded vocals arent good enough... boy
howdy, do we worry! And with good reason. Of all the sources of musical sound that
surround us in this world of ours, nothing hits us as hard or as deeply as a human voice.
Laughter makes us smile, a child crying puts us on instant alert to run and help... and a
vocal performance in a song, when done right, makes us want to laugh, cry, rejoice,
mourn, dance, celebrate, throw our hands in the air... or just sing along.
In this issue, we revisit a topic that never gets oldthe endless quest for the perfect
recorded vocal. We feature diverse viewpoints and a wealth of information that will help
you along as you polish your vocal recording craft.
We start with Eleanor Goldfield, a rock belter who also happens to know her way
around a studio backwards and forwards. Her advice covers everything from choosing
and placing mics to what a singer can do to deliberately affect his or her tone before
the session. Not all of her advice will click with every one of our readers, but theres
bound to be a number of hidden treasures that you didnt know about before.
We havent heard recently from engineer/producer Bruce Kaphan, a well-respected
name in these pages for many years. We welcome Bruce back with an article on his
tried and true approach to making a vocal recording session successful. Bruce was kind
enough to share, in addition to his words and photos, three tracks by the duet Misner
& Smith that he recorded; were offering them at tinyurl.com/RecMagKaphanMyTake
with permission of the artists.
John McVey weighs in with a fascinating article on the art and science of background
vocals. This article will be of special interest not only to engineers but also to songwriters, producers, and vocal artists: while it does cover techniques in the studio and make
suggestions about tracking and mixing strategies, a large part of Johns advice comes
into play while the song is being written and polished, long before the artist sets foot in
the studio. A great backing vocal begins with a great idea, and Johns article will help
you tease out those great ideas when crafting your songs.
And (literally) last but not least, our Recording Fundamentals teacher Eric Ferguson
returns to our magazine with a back-page Fade Out editorial entitled Auto-Tune Ethics,
in which he looks hard at when and why we use the many pitch correction programs
out there (of which Antares Auto-Tune is the most famous), when they do our tracks a
service, and when they do genuine harm. Its thought-provoking reading.
For the gearheads among you (I know, who isnt?), we have a great slate of reviews this
time around, from awesome mics by Blue and Pearlman to world-class monitoring and
interfacing hardware by Dangerous Music and Antelope Audio, from marvelous monitors
by PreSonus and Samson to ultracool controllers and apps by Novation and plug-ins from
iZotope, Universal Audio, and U-He. Some very inspiring tools to be found here! And
theres more... plenty to interest recording musicians in all genres and pursuits.
If youre seeing this issue for the first time at the Winter NAMM Show in Anaheim,
January 2226, I hope you get a lot from it and are inspired to come back for more.
Please stop by the Music Maker Publications booth in Hall A and ask for me. Ill be there
for a little while every day, near the close of the show, and would love to meet you and
chat about all things recording. I would like it very much if our magazine would become
your magazine.
Enjoy the issue!
SOCIAL MEDIA
Brent Heintz, Paul Vnuk Jr.
ART & PRODUCTION
ART DIRECTOR: Scott Simmonds

PRODUCTION MANAGER: Colin Courtney
WEB GOALIE: Colin Courtney
PLAYBACK PLATINUM SERIES

Lorenz Rychner
EDITOR/PRODUCER:
CIRCULATION
Tiffany Sepe
CIRCULATION MANAGER:
ADVERTISING SALES AND MARKETING

DIRECTOR: Brent Heintz
CLASSIFIEDS MANAGER: Colin Courtney
ADMINISTRATION
Thomas Hawley
ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE:
EXECUTIVE OFFICERS
PRESIDENT: Thomas Hawley

VICE PRESIDENT: Brent Heintz
SUBSCRIPTIONS/ADDRESS CHANGES:
1-954-653-3927
ADVERTISING/CLASSIFIEDS/MAIN OFFICE:
(303) 516-9118
RECORDING MAGAZINE
(ISSN 1078-8352; USPS 002-298) is published
monthly, 12 times per year, by Music Maker
Publications, Inc., 5408 Idylwild Trail, Boulder,
CO 80301-3523.
Tel: (303) 516-9118 Fax: (303) 516-9119
email: info@recordingmag.com
Los Angeles Editorial Office:
Beto@recordingmag.com
Periodicals Postage is paid at Boulder, CO and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to
RECORDING, Subscriber Services, P.O. Box 5024, Fort.
Lauderdale, FL, 33310. Tel: 1-954-653-3927, Fax: 1-954-7723393. Subscription rate: $23.97 per year. Distributed to the
music trade by Hal Leonard Corporation. All material is subject
to worldwide copyright protection, and reproduction or imitation in whole or in part is expressly forbidden without written
consent from the publishers. All reasonable care is taken to
ensure accuracy in the preparation of the magazine, but Music
Maker Publications, Inc. cannot be held legally responsible for
its contents. The publishers cannot assume responsibility for the
return of unsolicited manuscripts, photographs or materials. All
trademarked names, whether indicated as such or not, are
owned by their respective companies.
Canada Post: Publications Mail Agreement #41491032.
Canada Returns to be sent to Bleuchip International, P.O. Box
25542, London, ON N6C 6B2
Copyright 2014 Music Maker

Publications, Inc.
PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.

4
RECORDING February 2014
RECORDING MAGAZINE FEBRUARY
Become a fan of
recordingmag on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter at
www.twitter.com/recordingmag
36
16
FEATURES
16
Recording VocalsFrom An Insiders

Viewpoint.
36
Your monitoring system is critical to the final

quality of your tracksthis versatile controller fits
under your laptop and provides classy and flexible
audio routing to speakers and headphones alike.
A rock vocalist and studio tech guides us through

the ins and outs of a successful vocal session,
from singer preparation to final tracking.
REVIEW BY MIKE METLAY
BY ELEANOR GOLDFIELD
26
Recording Background Vocals.

A lot goes into a great backing vocal arrangement,
and some of the most important parts happen
before you press the Red Button. Heres a survey of
some of the things to keep in mind when capturing
those backing tracks.
30
BY JOHN MCVEY
40
Dangerous Music Source.
38
Antelope Audio Orion32.

Wait a minute... 32 channels of high-end 24-bit
audio, all in one rackspace and communicating
via USB? Believe it.
REVIEW BY PAUL VNUK JR.
44
Vocal RecordingMy Take.
Samson Resolv SE Active Studio

Reference Monitors.
Clean, clear monitoring for the desktop rig or the
small control room at an unheard-of price.
A successful producer discusses some of his

strategies for capturing great vocals.
REVIEWS BY MIKE METLAY
BY BRUCE KAPHAN
52
All About ReverbPart 2.

In the second half of our 2-parter on adding
ambience to your tracks, we cover vocal reverb
tricks, explain how modeling and convolution
reverbs work, and look at some successful software
in use today.
46
46
These hardware controllers and iPad apps make

music composition portable, easy, inspiring, fun...
and in a couple of cases, free.
REVIEWS BY MIKE METLAY
58
Plug-In Outlet.
Universal Audio Fairchild Tube Limiter Collection
for UAD-2 and Apollo; iZotope Nectar 2 Standard
Edition and Production Suite; U-He Satin Tape
Machine.
BY JOE ALBANO
78
Novation Launch Family.
2013 Annual Index.

If you want to find a review, interview, or feature
that ran in the past year, heres where to look.
REVIEWS BY PAUL VNUK JR.
38
22
REVIEWS
22
Blue Bottle Rocket Stage One.

This versatile solid-state mic comes with one of
up to nine different capsules with widely varied
and beautiful sonic characters. Also: Hands-on
comparisons with the tube-based Bottle Rocket
Stage Two, previously reviewed in our pages.
30
44
34
REGULARS
4
Fade In.
Talkback.
10
Fast Forward.
New product releases, plus a special report from
PreSonuSphere 2013.
PreSonus Sceptre S8 CoActual Active

Studio Monitors.
BY MIKE METLAY
A coaxial driver design and powerful onboard

DSP combine to create a speaker thats transparently
smooth, balanced, and ultimately truthful.
70
REVIEW BY LORENZ RYCHNER
80
BY MARTY PETERS
Fade Out.
Auto-Tune Ethics.
Pearlman TM-250 Tube Microphone.

This handmade mic brings the spirit of the
famous Telefunken ELA M 250 to life in a manner
thats magical to hear.
Readers Tapes.
GUEST EDITORIAL BY ERIC FERGUSON
71
Advertiser Index.
Note to faithful writers: When sending your letters by email,

please remember to include your name and where you hail from.
Room Modes: not the whole story
Hi there. I read a very interesting article where Mike
Metlay interviewed Peter DAntonio in your October 2013
issue of Recording.
In the article, Peter DAntonio says that RPG Diffusor
Systems, Inc. used to sell a a software programme called Room
Sizer and he adds that the ratio calculator for room volume is
all basically done online now. The calculator Peter DAntonio
refers to works out the most appropriate dimensions for a room
from the maximum and minimum room dimensions. I have
searched the Internet and while I can find a demo version of
Room Sizer, that version is only for Windows 95/98 and XP. I use
an Apple MacBook Pro, running OS X.
Are you able to point me in the direction of a version of
Room Sizer that will work on a Mac? I am about to build a
home studio and I suspect that the calculator will be a very
useful tool when designing the room.
I look forward to hearing from you. Kind regards,
Ian Sweeney
New Zealand
Hello, Ian, and thanks for writing. As far as I can determine,

Room Sizer was never supported for the Mac; youll want to
cast a wider net for room dimension programs. There are a
bunch easily found with a Google search, including some
online options like www.bobgolds.com/Mode/ RoomModes.htm
and others. But I also encourage you to read what else Dr.
DAntonio said in his interview!
A room mode calculator, if it doesnt take into account speaker placement and listener location, gives answers that are not
only wrong but misleading. You have to worry about modes
that are excited at the speaker location and heard at the listener location; optimizing for axial mode spread does neither.
And any deviation from a perfectly rectangular room, even by
a couple of degrees, invalidates the calculation. It also doesnt
take into account room materials, assuming a perfectly reflective room with no absorption or diffusion at all.
Dr. DAntonios advice is to understand and treat the
room you have. If youre going to truly build a room to
exacting size and shape, with construction contractors and
the like, hire a studio architect who can design the room
perfectly. But if youre going to be working with an existing space, he advises to figure out where your speakers
will go, figure out where youre going to sit, and then
sweep the room and listen for (and treat) frequencies that
vanish or are very strong at the listening position.
Once you know which frequencies are a problem, you can
treat them directly. For example, in an upcoming issue of the
magazine, we will run an article describing how to easily
build a Helmholtz resonator to attack a particular frequency in any size/shape room without taking up a lot of space.
If you insist on finding room proportions that optimize
for modal distribution, heres the easiest way to do it. Go to
the webpage realtraps.com/modecalc.htm and click on the
image there to blow it up to full size. Theres a list of eight
recommended room dimension ratios. Pick one and start
there... and be prepared to shoot your room and treat for

bad tones anyway, because youre going to need to.
Thanks for reading and good luck. Please keep us
informed as to how your room is turning out, and remember: treat for the problems you actually have, not the problems a spreadsheet says you might encounter in a perfect
world. BestMM
Tape for tapes sake?

Dear Scott Dorsey: I got your email address from an article
you did in Recording some years ago, on RMGI tape. I am
new to recording and have a TASCAM 38 reel-to-reel in the
shop getting dialed in.
I was wondering if you think the RMGI 468 tape, for recording anything from classical style stuff with strings to hard
rock stuff with a lot of mid bass, would be the best choice for
that deck? As Im sure you know, its a 1/2" x 10.5 reel deck;
I have the 2 noise reduction units. With thanks,
Ron Masterjohn
Yelm, WA
Scott Dorsey replies:

Ron: I would really like to discourage you from using a
TASCAM 38 machine for classical work. All of those narrow-track semi-pro machines have noise issues; the noise
reduction system helps but then adds another set of artifacts on top.
That said, as far as I know, the RMGI 468 is the only currently-made tape that the 38 will bias up. It might bias up
RMGI 911 and that could get you a little bit better SignalTo-Noise, but I would first give 468 a try. My inclination is
to keep operating levels fairly low because the heads on
those machines will clip before the tape will... I would stick
with 250 nW/m.
As always with narrow-track machines, be very careful with
track layout! Keep important stuff on center tracks, never
edge tracks; expect substantial bleed between adjacent
tracks, so leave a blank track between a timecode track and
an audio track, etc.. Youll get the hang of it. PeaceSD
Ron, Id like to elaborate on one of Scotts points for all
our readers benefit. With all the continuing discussion
about how awesome vintage analog tape is, prospective
buyers should remember that not all reel-to-reels will give
you more magic than grief.
The pro tape formats were and are 1" 8-track or 2" 16or 24-track, with each track being 1/8" or perhaps 1/12" wide.
As you shrink the width of each track, your usable dynamic
range drops rapidly. Machines with 1/16" tracks (4 tracks on
1
/4" tape, or 8 tracks on 1/2" tape like your TASCAM 38) can
still give you great recordings if you have the right noise
reduction, follow Scotts tips, and are very careful. But you
wont get the same tape sound as a wider-gauge deck
gives you when you hit the tape hard with hot levels.
Understand what youre buying!MM
Write to us at: Talkback, Recording Magazine, 5408 Idylwild Trail, Boulder, CO 80301
Or save stamps and send email to talkback@recordingmag.com
8
RDE Releases New Stereo-Paired Pencil Condenser Mics

The M5 is the newest condenser mic from RDE. Sold in pairs, the M5 was inspired
by the companys successful NT5 pencil condenser and features a 1/2" cardioid electret condenser capsule. Lacking the NT5s interchangeable capsules, the M5 represents a more affordable RDE condenser for interested recording musicians.
Each mic in the pair comes with a windscreen and stand mount; pairs are certified to match to within 1 dB across their frequency range, and are unobtrusively clad
in a proprietary matte-black ceramic coat finish.
Price: $199/pair More from: RDE Microphones, www.rodemic.com/m5
New for the UAD-2 and Apollo: Universal Audio Maag EQ4 Plug-in
The Maag EQ4 is the latest plug-in emulation for the UAD-2 DSP engine and Apollo
interfaces by Universal Audio. Developed by Brainworx for UA, the new plug-in precisely emulates the hardware EQ4 developed by Cliff Maag, developer of the famed
NTI EQ3 equalizer from the 1980s.
The new EQ4 plug-in, like the hardware, offers six bands of EQ, five with a 21step control for boost or cut at five predetermined frequencies, plus an Air Band with five selectable frequencies (2.5 to 40 kHz)
and its own Gain control. The EQ4 is designed to provide natural sound combined with exceptional clarity and top-end presence.
Look for a review soon.
Price: $229 More from: Universal Audio, uaudio.com
Sonic Reality Records Nick Mason Drum Library

for FXpansion BFD
Sonic Realitys newest drum library for the FXpansion
BFD virtual drum instrument is Nick Mason Drums. This
drum kit was played by Nick Mason, drummer for Pink
Floyd, and recorded by Alan Parsons, who engineered
Dark Side Of The Moon. The library reunites player and engineer for the first time in 40 years,
and was recorded using a EMI TG12345 console, the model that used to record the original
album.
The library features nearly 5 GB of samples of Masons Ludwig drum kit with multiple mic
channels of live and deadened sounds, room mics, and more, all recorded with the same mics
and miking techniques used by Parsons in the 1973 Dark Side sessions.
Price: $69.00 More from: Sonic Reality / eSoundz, www.esoundz.com
10
Positive Grid Launches New Amplifier Modeling App for iOS

BIAS is a new amplifier modeling app for the iPad from Positive Grid. Designed from the ground up for the best possible tone,
BIAS offers 36 modeled vintage and modern guitar amplifiers and speaker cabinets, all with extensive customization.
The new app allows users to quickly swap out tubes, preamps, power stages, transformers, cabinets and the speakers inside
them, and more, to produce unique tonal signatures that might be difficult or impossible to create in the real world. Features include
a room simulator, noise gate, and one-tap recall of favorite presets.
BIAS also allows for seamless integration with Positive Grids JamUp series of guitar effects processor apps, for a complete guitar
and bass effects processing solution. Look for a dual review of BIAS and JamUp Pro XT in an upcoming issue.
Price: $19.99 More from: Positive Grid, www.positivegrid.com
Sound Devices Premieres New Field Mixer/Recorder

Sound Devices has introduced a new field mixer/recorder, the 633. This is a compact, rugged 6-channel mixer with built-in 10-channel SD/CompactFlash recorder. It
offers three mic/line inputs with phantom power, highpass filter, input limiter, and variable pan, along with three line-level inputs on mini-XLR. All six inputs can be assigned
to the stereo output, six output buses, or any of the four Aux buses.
The internal 10-track recorder captures all six inputs, the L/R output bus, and Aux
1/2. Ten tracks of 24-bit audio at up to 48 kHz can be recorded, six tracks of up to
24/192. The unit can hold an SD card and a CompactFlash card at the same time
and record to both at once, either realtime backup or WAV on one
card and timestamped MP3 files on the other.
Designed for ultimate reliability in the field, the 633 can be powered by external DC supply, removable Lithium-Ion cells, or six AA
batteries. It switches from one power source to the next as needed,
and a special PowerSafe function provides 10 seconds to gracefully save all files and shut down the unit when all power is exhausted.
Other features include a built-in time code generator, two channels of AES digital input and four of AES output, stereo linking,
Mid-Side processing, and user-configurable headphone presets with quick source selection via a headphone favorite mode.
Price: $3095 More from: Sound Devices, www.sounddevices.com
ADK Premieres New Line of FET Mics

In addition to the five Z-MOD 9-pattern tube mics shown at the
AES Convention and written up in our convention report
(January 2014), ADK / 3 Zigma Audio has also announced five
new solid-state mics called the T-FET Custom Tri-Polar mics.
Designed to emulate the sonic DNA of five historical mics
through capsule design, the T-FET line eliminates much of the
need for electronic filtering in the electronics.
Each of the mics is a low-noise 3-pattern Class A FET design
with a special slow-saturation circuit and Oxford transformer,
and comes with shock mount, ring mount pop filter, foam windscreen, and flight case.
Prices: $1299 each More from: ADK Microphones /
3 Zigma Audio, www.adkmic.com
12
Great Gear, Great Advice, and Great Times at PreSonuSphere 2013

Since 2011, the PreSonuSphere Annual Users Conference in the PreSonus
hometown of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, has brought together industry professionals and end users in seminars, discussion groups, and hands-on product
clinics, aimed not only at PreSonus products but at a wide variety of topics of
interest to music professionals.
Upstairs, the Sternberg Conference Room was set

up as a hands-on classroom for topics like computer
optimization, recording software, and listening sessions for the new Eris and Sceptre monitors (see
reviews in May 2013 and in this very issue). The
room was fitted with a dozen Mac and PC workstations set up with control surfaces, audio interfaces,
and PreSonus Studio One and Capture software.
This year, the beautiful Manship Theatre, the centerpiece of the whole Shaw Center, was in use
throughout the entire conference, hosting high-attendance events like a seminar on putting digital consoles
LAngelus
PreSonuSphere 2013 (October 25-26) was the third and largest outing so far,
with some 500 participants running between some three dozen events over two
long days in four different performance spaces at Baton Rouges gorgeous Shaw
Center For The Arts. After last years successful hookup with Audio-Technica on
miking and wireless products, the event was opened to other firms beside
PreSonus, demonstrating their products in a vendor gallery and even hosting a
few of the seminars. Audio-Technica was back, along with Blue,
Khaliq Glover
Fishman, Obedia, PCAudioLabs, and more.
The Hartley/Vey Studio Theatre was adorned with a complete live PA setup on a full-sized stage. Audiences got to watch
everything from vocal comping sessions with producer Justin
Lassen, to tutorials on mic selection with Audio-Technicas Steve
Savanyu, to a session where Nashville-based zydeco band
LAngelus took a live recording from tracking to mix to posting
for sale online in just 90 minutes, with the help of PreSonus
Studio One DAW and the Nimbit online promotion service. It
also hosted lectures by luminaries like John Storyk (on studio
design principles and applications) and Bobby Owsinski (on
really effective ways to self-promote).
The smaller Hartley/Vey Workshop Theatre had a more intimate setup
where lecturers covered a wide variety of topics. The remarkable Fishman
Triple Play MIDI guitar interface was demonstrated by Burr Johnson; Craig
Anderton gave a talk on guitar tone in DAW recordings; PreSonuss John
Mlynczak brought his passion for music education to talks on using PreSonus
products (including the newly acquired Notion notation software) in the classroom; and musician and educator Martin Atkins (Public Image Ltd., Nine Inch
Nails, Pigface, and others) brought listeners his uniquely accessible and funny
views on touring and musical success.
14
to work in houses of worship, wireless

remote control of PA elements, and a 2part seminar where a PA was set up
and tuned, mics were placed and tested for soundcheck, and a recording
setup was put in place, all in preparation for a free concert by the band
Royal Teeth
Royal Teeth in the Manship that evening. Finally,

famed engineer Khaliq Glover wowed the audience
with a straightforward and easy-to-understand
approach to getting great mixes.
The weekend was an amazing learning experience; participants left with huge smiles and promises
to return. My only regret was that with all the stuff happening between the pre-conference Jambalaya Feed
and the final PreSonuSchmooze dinner at the end of
Day Two, there was simply too much to see and do
for any one reporter to take in. I was proud to represent Recording and its Spanish-language sister publication Msico Pro at PreSonuSphere... but next year,
Im bringing Msico Pro Editor Fernando Curiel with
me so Im not run off my feet!Mike Metlay
Photos courtesy Steve Oppenheimer of PreSonus and
Tom Kibodeaux (service@preauxactive.com)
this mic parallel ideally with my voice: A smooth broadcast-style rolloff starting
at 200 Hz, a nice bump at 3 kHz, followed by a dip at 4.5 kHz, a gradual hill
over 7-10 kHz, finishing in a slow decline after that. The RE20 is now my go-to
studio mic.
Why all the fuss?
Vocals are the most uniquely personal instruments of alljust like we each
have our unique DNA and fingerprints, each of us has unique vocal cords.
Capturing these nuances, and finding the right mic to do so, goes beyond easy
categorizations like a rock vocal or a jazz vocal. It requires experimental
patience, knowledge and creativity, both from the producer/engineer and
from the vocalist. Singers entering a recording studio should not assume that
their perfect vocal mic will be ready and set up for them; they should make
it their business to find out what mics complement their vocals, just like a guitarist walking into a session has to know how to adjust their amp setttings.
Singers, you dont have variable settings like an amp head does, or switchable speakers or tubes; your voice is your voice. You dont have the ability to
add a little presence to your voice, or cut a little midrange. However, there
exists a vast range of microphones, some of which will highlight or dull certain
parts of your voice, essentially acting as the controls on an amp head.
Singerknow thy voice!
How do you find out what may suit your voice? While the specs of a mic
are obviously easy to find, we singers cant Google our frequency curves as
easily. We have to test and build them.
For singers, this task requires you to sing into a DAW and slap a multi-band
EQ on whatever it is that you just sang. Either you or an engineer can then sit
down and start moving those bands up, down and over. Dont be light-handed here, either. The point is to find the frequencies that resonate the most, in a
good or bad way. Crank that 3 kHz band up and see if thats where your bite
Recording VocalsFrom An Insiders Viewpoint

A vocalist takes us into the studio to learn how to make a vocal session run smoothly
By Eleanor Goldfield
I guess youre a cheap date,

he said, smiling.
I shrugged my shoulders and
laughed, taking a few more sips of
water and honey tea before continuing.
Yes, youre reading the correct
article. And, no, I dont drink tea on
dates... usually.
Finding the vocal mic
When the engineer/producer placed the Shure
545 in front of me, we had already been through
the vocal-mic heavyweights: the Neumann U 47,
U 48, and U 87, and AKG C12. I already knew
that my voice didnt sound good on a Neumann U
67 so we skipped that one. The Shure SM7 didnt
fit either, so we kept climbing down, from top shelf
to middle, eventually getting to the Shure 545, sort
of like an older brother to the Shure SM57. (I bring
an SM57 and SM58 to every vocal session, just in
case Ill want to use them. I know that every studio
has these, but I would rather use my own, being
slightly germaphobic...)
Then a visiting engineer friend of mine suggested
an Electro-Voice RE20. I was wary, but a half hour
later I had to give him a hug. The characteristics of
16
sits. Crank 450 or 500 and see if it sounds like youre wrapped in a blanket.
This way, youll carve out a nice frequency response curve for yourself and can
then match that with mics that complement that curve.
As an engineer, if you have no idea what the frequency response of your
clients vocals are, listen to previous releases of theirs. (This is essentially how
that engineer came to recommend the RE20. He knew the frequency response
of the RE20 and, having mixed my vocals more than a handful of times, he
had a visual memory of my frequency curve as well.) Maybe youll have the
time/ability to do a vocal-mic shootout, so you can ask the client to come in
and test with you.
Cases in point
For example, I sing rock/hard rock and blues rock and my voice parallels
well to that of Chris Cornell (Soundgarden, Audioslave) and Brent Smith
(Shinedown). A little online digging will tell you that Cornell has used SM57s
and SM7s in the studio. SM7s are good because they can handle enormous
amounts of SPL and they add a nice clarity to beefy rock vocals. They can,
however, also add sibilance to voices like mine... voices that just need a little
sheen in the top end, not a heavy silk mumu.
A singer I have worked with has the most amazing pop/R&B voice and sounds outstanding
through a Sony C800, a Neumann M49, AKG
C12VR and Blue Kiwi. (So shes not a cheap
date...) The Sony C800 is a beautiful-sounding
tube mic, with more than a handful of people saying its their favorite tube mic. The M 49 is a classic, with smooth and clean highs and well-rounded lows. The Kiwi sets a high bar for solid-state
mics, with a relatively flat response and honest features. The C12VR exposes more than the others,
without overtly highlighting. The reason this singer
sounds good on it is because she has a honeysmooth voice with just tinges of rasp here and
there. The C12 picks up on those without focusing
on and pushing themunlike, say, a U 47.
The highly praised (and highly priced)
Neumann U 47 is a beautiful-sounding mic that
doesnt really hype in one place or the other, but it does have a smooth and
warm tone to it that a lot of people love. In my case, thats precisely why it doesnt work: I like the harshness in my voice and even want it to be accentuated.
The U 47 will glaze it with a warm goo that sounds awkward on my voice.
For classical vocals, the Audio-Technica AT2020 is a favorite, as well as the
Schoeps MK4 that has pretty much an entirely flat frequency response. For
country, Ive found that many of the same pop mics sound great, as well as
the RCA 77 ribbon mic.
Allow for creative surprises: As you put up the typical choices for your
genre and style, throw in something a little off the radar. Add an AKG C414
to your lineup of the SM7, SM57, U 67 and U 47, or a RDE NT1-A, which
straddles several genres, having been used in studios by Amy Winehouse as
well as Cornell, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and 30 Seconds to Mars.
Make sure that when youre testing these mics, you dont have compression
or EQ in, and that the mic pre is at an appropriate level. Which brings us to...
Microphone preamplifiers
If you can, try out a number of high-quality mic
preamps, as they can make a difference. Not as
much of a difference as, say, the tonal difference
between an SM58 and an RE20, but still important.
The thinking behind mic pres, at least from my
perspective, is that studios and home setups should
invest in a couple or a few solid mic pres that focus on transparently passing along audio signal without augmenting or affecting it. In
the years that I spent working at the Village in Los Angeles, I heard
of maybe two or three people using a mic pre other than the 1073s
available inside the Neve 8048 console. Why? Well, because they
sound amazing! They work on anything and everything, from spoken word to death metal. Besides that, whats more convenient than
using the mic pre thats built into the board?
Chances are that if you find yourself in a professional studio, the
house engineer will suggest using whatever gets used the most. When
I was at Sunset Sound, the home of my RE20 epiphany, I sang through
their custom-built mic pre. Thats obviously not something I can pick up
at Guitar Center. When we recorded tracks at my home studio, I used
a Vintech X73 (modeled after the Neve 1073).
In short, when you go to test mics and to record, go through a
trusted mic pre that wont color the sound too much.
EQ and compression
Now, on many channel strips and certainly in your mixer and
DAW, you have EQ options. My suggestion is that of one of my
mentors: mess with everything else before you record with EQ!
The thinking here is that if youve done your homework by choosing the correct mic and the correct placement and a mic pre that
doesnt come in a starter pack, you shouldnt have to tattoo EQ
onto your vocals. Even if you think you know what EQ is needed later
on for that voice to sit in the mix, you should still record onto two
tracks, with and without the EQ.
As far as compression goes in this signal chain, a general consensus is to salt the track, i.e. to use it sparingly or not at all. I, for one,
always record with a little light compression. I have a very dynamic
voice and need something to smooth out the highest peaks and lowest valleys. Between that and good mic technique, I typically dont
need to really clamp down on anything, nor do I like doing so.
Engineers, if you have a singer who is incredibly

dynamic, stay your hand from smashing the hell out
of that vocal. Consider how that singer will react
when hearing a metric ton of compression restrain
every pushed word or phrase. The goal is, after all,
to get the best performance, and as any producer
will say, half (if not more) of producing is psychology. If a singer doesnt like the way he/she sounds
on record, that recording wont sound good.
This is often ignored when it comes to compression. Its obvious when youre listening to a
microphone that sounds awful or a preamp
thats buzzing. But as you sit there, pleased with
your controlled and contained waveform, the
singer may be out there wondering why the hell
he or she has to keep singing harder with less
desirable results each time!
Depending on the singer, start with something
light, and adjust for taste. If you feel that you absolutely need harder compression, try this trick: Create two audio tracks inside of Pro Tools and set two compressors (either hardware or plug-ins) that feed those audio tracks. Make the
first one a light compression and record that pass first. When youre at that
place where takes start coming, and the vibe is up, ask them to double.
Switch over to the second track and record through the heavier compression. Let the singer listen to the first take while they sing the second. While
the current pass will sound more compressed, the singer is less likely to notice
and be bothered by it because the more dynamic track is still audible.
This of course assumes that the singer (1) can double themselves without issue
and (2) doesnt mind hearing themselves as they sing doubles. But if you can get
that dynamic singer to give this a go, youll be quite pleased with the blend.
Now, if you happen to be working with someone like Donna Summer, who
asked that the compressor be removed even before the needle moved (true
story), go ahead, and then sit back and enjoy. If you have a singer who can
so masterfully work their relation to the mic, to the point that the fade-out looks
quite literally drawn in, dont mess with that beauty of artistic technique.
For the rest of us mortals, add a little salt to the mix.
Care and feeding
Vocal cords are soft tissue, basically muscles. When we push them together, they create vibrations in the form of sound. You non-singers dont know
how lucky you are that your instrument is not a part of your body. Sure, you
have to lug kick drums and guitar cabinets around, but if you skimp on sleep
or have too much coffee, your instrument isnt affected. Well, ours is.
Everything we drink, eat, inhale, think, and just simply do affects our vocal cords,
for good or bad. So engineers and singers alike, here are some tried-and-true ways
to care for and carefully manipulate those two magical wings of soft tissue.
~ Sleep: Lack of sleep translates to your vocal cords. In short, get enough
sleep the night before a session or gig, and dont plan on re-grouting your bathroom that morning.
~ Stress: Stress also shows itself in your vocal production. Being a musician is
stressful in and of itself, so all I can say is maybe try yoga and stock up in the other
departments, like hydration. My guitarist constantly makes fun of me for walking
around with a water bottle as if I were about to cross the Mojave. Its true, I drink
a lot of water (about half my weight in ounces a day); but I would argue that everyone should, particularly if its a necessary part of keeping your instrument in optimal working order. Without proper hydration, your voice wont just lose desired
timbre, its more likely to crack, falter and quiver, making a smooth vibrato sound
like a hacking square wave. [Here in Colorado, a mile above sea level in the high
desert, its amazing how quickly dehydration can trash your voice, wear you out,
and give you a headache. You can never drink too much water!MM]
~ Dairy products: Dairy products have been given a bad rap from classical
singers (which I used to be), simply because dairy triggers your body to produce more mucous. In classical music, this is bad. Mucous obviously interferes
with the desired pristine, crystal clear tones. But how about rock? Or some
edgy country or R&B where youre not looking for pristine and crystal clear?
Dairy products give singers a little more gravel to push off of, something a
bit dirty and unrefined, a little bit of gritty growl. But be careful and dont
think that the more pizza you have, the more gravel youll get. It affects mostly the midrange and could cause cracking and wobbling in the lower and
20
higher sections of your range, so choose your

dairy consumption wisely.
~ Alcohol: Then theres alcohol, in particular whisky
and other dark liquors. I dont include wine or beer in
this because they arent harsh enough to get a
response out of your cords. All they do is dry them out.
Im not sure of the science behind this but if you
take a shot of whisky, youll get some nice gritty rasp,
and itll be easier to hit the lower notes in your range.
I say shot because you shouldnt start blending the
alcohol with sweet mixers like juices or sodas. The
sugar and laboratory-made multi-syllabic poisons
wont do you any favors. Stick with a shot or two.
Dont go overboard, not just because of the drying effects on your cords, but also because you dont
want to be standing there at noon recording vocals
whilst having to decide which of the two mics in front
of you is really there. And if youre opposed to alcohol use in general or just in the studio, feel free to
skip this step and try my other suggestions.
~ Coffee, Tea, Honey, Oil...: Just stay away from
coffee. In my experience, no fun or interesting effects
have come from drinking coffee except cracking and
missing notes. Coffee basically just dries out your
vocal cords, and even with drinking water afterwards, the effects are lasting for at least a couple of
hours. As much as it may suck, give some green tea
a try and ask to not start too early in the morning.
As for tea, there are several brands made specifically for the voice including Throat Coat and
Golden Voice. When I go into the studio, I typically take one bag of that, a packet of honey and a
spritz of lemon. Thats my go-to drink.
Honey is also goodjust take a spoonful. Its
sticky yet smooth nature does wonderful things for
a fluid, consistent vibrato.
And while you have the spoon out, you can also
take a spoonful of oil; olive, rice bran, safflower,
etc. The oil will coat your cords (just like a door
hinge...) and smooth them out beautifully. It can
make it a little too slippery to get a good handle on
your gravel or grit, but as youve read, theres a
remedy for that as well.
~ For your top end: Neither milk nor whisky (please dont blend) do much
to help your top end, but green apples do. They have to be green. Something
in green apples gives a hydrating crisp to your cords thats immediately noticeable. Green apples are also great to have in case you forgot about not having coffee... or you want to etch-a-sketch the whisky and milk you just downed.
~ Food: Food can be just as hydrating as water, or as dehydrating as coffee.
Vegetables are typically great for the voice because they contain a lot of water.
Anything with a lot of salt or sugar isnt. Grains are not too far to either side, but
my vocal cords feel a bit swollen after Ive eaten a lot of gluten, so that may be
something you want to watch out for.
~ Smoking, exercise, and the meaning of life: I wont get too naggy here
about smoking or exercise (especially since Ive just suggested that drinking
can be good for a singer!) but I think we can all guess which one of those
is good and which one is bad. And none of the other information is rocket
science either. Your body isnt afraid to tell you when it likes or doesnt like
something. Youll know just by feeling and listening to yourself sing whether
that coffee cake and soda was a good idea (which it probably wasnt).
The same goes for choosing mics and setting up your signal chain. Use
your ears and take note of how it feels and sounds to sing or record
through that mic, through that pre, that compressor. Allow yourself the
time and freedom to experiment and to be an overly expensive or overly cheap date.
And for the record, as a wino, Im not a cheap date. Happy recording!
Eleanor Goldfield (goldfield@recordingmag.com) is a Los Angelesbased writer, musician and freelance tech and studio consultant. She is
lead singer in the hard rock band, Rooftop Revolutionaries, and works
with several studios and pro audio professionals in management and
consulting capacities. For more info, check out eleanor-swede.com.
All photos, including the shots of Samantha Blanchard on the Blue Kiwi
and AKG C12 on pages 1819, by Eleanor Goldfield. Photos of Eleanor
Goldfield on Shure SM57 and Electro-Voice RE20, on these pages, by
Chris Owens. Vocal photos taken at Bell Sound Studios, Hollywood.
B Y PA U L V N U K J R .
Blue Bottle Rocket Stage One
A choice of capsules gives this mic amazing versatility
Blues first mic, the Bottle, was released in 1996

and based upon the 1928 Neumann CMV3, also
nicknamed The Bottle. Aside from its large
imposing size, what made the original unique was
its system of removable M-series capsules that
could be swapped out for different applications, a
system used on Blues Bottle as well. Note that both
Blues line of Bottle Caps and the original
Neumann capsules can be used on either mic.
Eventually, after World War II the East
German division of Neumann, what we now
call Microtech Gefell, refined the idea further
by shrinking the body into the CMV-563.
Many years later, in 2005, Blue did the same
thing when it released the Red Type A through
the companys Vintage Microphones division.
When the Red line was discontinued in
2008, the Type A was rebranded into the Blue
Bottle Rocket Stage Two, reviewed by Justin
Peacock in our March 2010 issue. Compared
to the $6000 Bottle, the $2500 Stage Two
was a much more affordable option for entering the world of Blues Bottle Caps.
Concurrent with the original tube-based Red
Type A was the Solid State Red Type B, which
also earned a new Blue designation in 2008
as the Blue Bottle Rocket Stage One and now
sells for $1000 street. Wed missed reviewing
it the first time around, but felt it was worth a
hard listen now, especially since many of these
capsules excel on vocals, this issues focus.
The Bottle Rocket Stage One
The Stage One has a similar body to the
Bluebird and of course the Stage Two. Unlike the
Stage Twos glossy dark-blue exterior the Stage
One features a rough texture. It is a bayonet-style
mic, which means it has a large post on its top
side where the lollipop-style Bottle Caps attach
with a spring-loaded push and twist. A great feature of this mic is thatas on the Stage Twothe
capsules are hot-swappable. They can be
changed and auditioned while the mic is
plugged in, even with phantom power engaged.
The Stage One comes with a foam-lined,
slide-top hardwood box and a screw-on shock
mount. This is an upgrade to earlier Bottle
Rocket mounts, which used a vintage-style compression-clamp mount.
A few relevant specs: frequency response
20 Hz20 kHz, sensitivity 27 mV/Pa (10 mV
depending on capsule) at 1 kHz (1 Pa = 94 dB
22
SPL), noise level not more than 7.5 to 14 dBV

depending on capsule, dynamic range 130
dB, and max SPL 138 dB.
Cap it!
None of the Bottle-style microphones offer
pattern switching; when you desire a different
polar pattern, swap a Cap. Currently there are
9 capsules in the series, each sold in its own
hardwood foam-lined box. They are:
B0: a cardioid large-diaphragm capsule with
a solid low end, a slight mid dip and a significant 8 kHz rise. Blue calls this ultimate big
vocal sound.
B1: a cardioid small-diaphragm capsule with
a gentle low-end rolloff below 50 Hz, a flat, even
mid section and slight peaking at 5 kHz and 10
kHz. This is Blues accuracy plus capsule.
B2: a large-diaphragm figure-8 capsule with deemphasized lows and low mids, with a smooth
sloping peak up to 8 kHz and then a smooth highend roll off; Blue calls it the vintage capsule.
B3: a mid-size diaphragm cardioid capsule
that Blue calls the most neutral of the bunch.
This capsule is smooth in the lows and low
mids with a slight 2 kHz rise followed by the
most subdued high end of any of the capsules.
B4: a Perspex Sphere small-diaphragm pressure omni. This capsule is based on the Neumann
M50. This will find its most use on room miking
and orchestral work, thanks to its smooth even
sound. It is a favorite of classical engineers, and
seemed to be reviewer Justin Peacocks favorite of
the bunch in his Stage Two review.
B5: this is a large-diaphragm omni that Blue
calls the presence omni. Unlike the B4, this
omni is big and bold, with a nice low-end
bump and the most open top end of the entire
Bottle Cap family.
B6: a dual-backplate large-diaphragm cardioid capsule with a very nicely weighted
smooth frequency response, with some slight
midrange presence around 2-3 kHz followed
by a forward 12 kHz peak. The company calls
this The Blue Standard, and this is the capsule
that is recommended and usually ships with the
full-size Bottle. This one is one of my favorites!
B7: a single-backplate large-diaphragm cardioid capsule that Blue calls the vintage vocal
sound. This one is the most mid-forward around
3-4 kHz with a subdued low end and equally
subdued highs. Essentially this is the capsule
Blue Bottle Rocket Stage One
that Blue has been manufacturing

for years as a drop-in replacement
for when they refurbish Neumann
U 47 mics. Of course, without the
rest of the electronics this does not
sound exactly like a vintage U 47,
but its in the ballpark with a very
classic sound all its own.
B8: this large-diaphragm cardioid capsule is the same one
used in the Bluebird. This one is
the most open and modern, with
ruler-flat mids, a round and slightly bumped low end, and a 5 kHz
boost followed by a smooth and
even rolloff. This is Blues best all
round capsule, and the one that
they typically recommend as your
first Bottle Cap.
2 microphones, 5 capsules
For this review Blue was kind
enough to send me not only the
Stage One Bottle Rocket, but also
a Stage Two so I could compare
the sonic differences of each
body. They also let me choose 5
capsules to try and I chose the B1,
B3, B6, B7 and B8.
Over a period of two months I
used both mics and the capsules
in front of a few drum kits, on electric guitar amps, acoustic guitar, percussion, male and female vocals, and even a
string triowhich made me wish I would
have also chosen a B4 capsule.
Solid state or tube
The solid-state Stage One is easily more
clear and open and less weighty. By contrast, the Stage Two is more filled out
across the low mids, and has a nice soft
dustiness on the top end. Its not overly
smooth, muddy or rolled off, just less crispsounding than the Stage One. To simplify
it into an old illustration, the Stage One is
like video and the Stage Two is like film.
One is by no means better than the other,
andlike when choosing any microphoneit comes down to context. What is
your source? Where do you want it to sit in
the mix? What capsule are you using?
Overall I found myself favoring the Stage
Two tube body for things like lead vocals,
acoustic guitar, and percussion that needed
the filling out and the weight, but I preferred
the solid-state Stage One body on electric
guitar, the string trio, and backing vocals,
where I wanted a clarity that sat more in
the mix. On drums it was a toss-up depending on how huge I wanted the front-ofkit/room mic to sound in the mix.
24
Capsule choice
The first capsule I grabbed was
the B7. I put it on the Stage Two
body where it did a great job on
female lead vocals. I had the
opposite reaction with male lead
vocals, preferring the natural
openness of the Stage One body.
The capsule kept the mid-forward
push that 47-ish mics have a reputation for, but the Stage One had
better clarity and the vocal took
up less space in the song.
Moving to the B8 capsule, I
have always been a Bluebird fan
since I reviewed it years ago in our
May 2004 issue. I find its natural
width is great on acoustic instruments and vocals for folk and
Americana music. The Stage One
with the B8 capsule is of course
very Bluebird-like, but what I liked
even more was the slight presence
boost that the Stage Two gives the
B8 capsule. The lows fill out a
touch and the highs seem to pull
back a bit more.
Its easy to see why Blue recommends the B8 with either body as
the best all-rounder. If you can
only afford one mic and plan to
use it on everything, I would
agree that the B8 is the safest bet. I did
some quick tests recording a verse and
chorus of a song using cajon, hi-hat, two
acoustic guitars, vocals, tambourine and
shaker, taking turns with each mic and
capsule on every source, just to see how
each mic stacks on itself in a mix, and the
B8 is the hands-down, all-around winner.
Second to the B8 for versatility was the
B3 in my opinion. It is very neutral and
offers an un-hyped naturalness. While the
soundstage was not as wide or
open as that of the B8, the B3
was smoother and very
pleasant on the ears across
the spectrum. This was the
capsule I chose for use on
the string trio (cello & 2
violins) and it did a great
job of capturing a full and
woody tone, but not highlighting too much string bite.
I also found the B3 to be my
favorite of the group on electric
guitar cabinet about 3 feet back,
where it added a nice depth, again
without being bright or biting.
Next it was the B1s turn. As a
small-diaphragm capsule the B1
excelled on sources needing a
smooth, clear focus. It was my favored

capsule for hand percussion, close-up
string work, again violin and cello,
acoustic guitar, and even up close in the
grille of a guitar cabinet.
While I expected my favorite capsule
to be the classic B7, which was awesomeespecially on vocals, I found
myself enjoying and returning just as
often to the B6. Although Blue calls it
modern, I think it nicely straddles the
line of modern punch and vintage fullness. It offers the most overall presence of
the collection, but it still stacks surprisingly well in an only-mic situation.
I liked its tone on male vocals a hair
more than the B7 and also found it to be
a nice front-of-drum-kit mic. It also did
well on percussion and on acoustic guitar
when I wanted a touch more character.
This is the best descriptive word I can
think of for this capsule: it takes a source
and adds a hint of character. Its also
easy to see why this one seems to be so
loved, used and recommended for use
with the Bottle, as it is quite full and distinct, especially with a tube body.
Whenever I see someone describe
Blues Cactus tube microphone or even the
Bottle, I often see phrases like it has the
Blue sound. I think that thanks to the B6, I
now know what they are talking about.
Wrap up
I know I have only scratched the surface
of what these mics can do and what they
are suited for, but reviewing this collection
is a bit like reviewing 10 distinctly different microphones in a few months time.
What they all have in common, from
the Bottle Rockets to the Bottle Caps, is
quality, from their build to their sound,
even to their look and presentation. This
is a system that lets you start small and
grow over time to cover every sonic need
that you may have.
If I was starting my collection today I
would go with the versatility, clarity and
price of the Stage One and I would choose
a B6 or B8 capsule, as I think those cover
the most ground. Then I would add
a B7, then a B3, of course I still
want to try the B4, and the B1
was nice...!
Prices: Bottle Rocket
Stage One, $999 with
B8 capsule; Bottle Rocket
Stage Two, $2499.99
with B8 capsule; single
Bottle Caps, $599.99 each
More from: Blue, www.bluemic.com
Paul Vnuk Jr. (vnuk@recordingmag.com)
is a recording engineer, producer,
musician, and live sound engineer, living and working in Milwaukee.
Think about what the song wants to say, and how background vocals might
help say it. Some songs may not want any background vocals at all! This is as
important a decision as when and how to use them. A ballad about loneliness
may have the most impact with one solitary vocal throughout. A song about
love may want one harmony only with the lead, playing up that relationship.
Other songs, particularly big anthems with lofty lyrical themes, might want a
big powerful background vocal arrangement. Humorous songs may want fun
or sarcastic background vocal arrangements.
Some bands or artists want to make use of lots of tracks and overdub many
vocals for a big-sounding production. Others want just the sound of what the
core band can do live. Some songs want big, full-voiced choruses. Some want
breathy, quiet harmonies. Listen to your production and focus only on what
background vocals might do for it.
Where does the lead vocal want support? Does it need harmonies all the
way through, or just in certain sections? What spaces need to be filled in?
What lines need to be accented? When should background vocals sing lyrics
and when simply ooos and ahhs, syllables like la, or humming. How
does the song build from beginning to end?
When to record background vocals
This is an important decision. When you create a song, or when youre listening to a demo for the first time, you may have an idea that background
vocals are needed and where and how they might be used. But at what point
should they be put into the recording?
In some cases, the background vocals come to the recording process with
the song and are such an integral part of it and how it was conceived that they
Recording Background Vocals
Solid strategies for best results
For this issue of Recording, with its emphasis on

vocal recording, Id like to teach you a bit about
background vocals. I love arranging and recording
backing vocals... its one of my favorite things.
Theyll be different for every song, because every
song has different needs. Background vocals can
do so much for a song, and its a challenge to come
up with the perfect arrangement, one that makes
your production of the song the best it can be.
The number of ways background vocals can be sung
is infinite, so in this article Ill be scratching the surface of
a huge subject. Ill talk through some valuable options
and use some commonly known songs as examples. But
Ill mainly focus on songs that have just a lead vocal
melody, and discuss what to do around itas opposed
to songs that are conceived with vocal harmonies, like
those of Crosby Stills & Nash, for example.
must be among the first considerations. These should be recorded (at least as
scratch) along with or soon after the basic instrumentation and lead vocal. This
way, any overdubs or additions take them into account, either adding to them
or staying out of their way, and the rest of the production is built around them.
These instances are usually obvious.
In other songs, particularly those in which it has not yet been decided what
background vocals might be needed, if any, I like doing background vocals
last, after the rest of the production is recorded and the lead vocal is finalized.
I do this for two reasons: First, it may not be clear what the song needs until
the end, and second, the background vocalist(s) may be harmonizing with the
lead at times, and those harmonies must match the final vocal.
In cases where the background vocals are the icing on the cake, its easier
to see what function they will perform when the production is closer to finished.
If all of the instruments have been recorded and theres still something missing,
background vocals may be just what the production needs. I like to listen
through the song, after not hearing it for a day or so, making notes of places
where something needs to happen. Then Ill go back and try some things out
in those sections. Once Ive tried something, I listen again. Did it work? Did it
get better? Would something else work better? Would nothing work better?
What does the song need?

First and foremost, rememberthe song is king.
The meaning of the song is what dictates the kinds
of decisions you make in any production. You
record the song in the style, tempo, key, instrumentation, and general vibe that not only fit it, but make
it mean more to the listener and bring out the emotion of the song. Some work better as rock songs,
some as folky ballads, some as bluesy productions,
some as funky groovers. The same considerations
are true for the use and treatment of background
vocals. Remember, form follows function.
When to bring in background vocals

At what point in the song do you bring in background vocals? Do you have
them come in right at the opening of the song, or wait until later? When they come
in, do they come in strong, or start out in a smaller way and build? Smart use of
background vocals can be a great way to build energy as the song goes along.
One typical strategy for me when the song calls for itand using a very common
song formmight be something like this:
~ Let the lead vocal be by itself in the first verse and chorus. Since this is the
first time a listener will hear this melody, letting them get used to it by itself first
allows them to know whats being harmonized later.
~ In the second chorus bring in simple background vocals, either harmonizing lyrics, or singing oos or ahhs.
By John McVey
26
~ Throughout the bridge have the background vocals doing something supportiveagain harmonizing lyrics, or singing
oos or ahhs. Since the bridge is often a
bit of a departure from the rest rest of the
song, these background vocals can often
be used to create an atmosphere that is
distinct, one that sets the bridge apart in
a cool way.
~ In the last verse add a few harmony
lines. Now that the listener knows the
melody, it may be time to embellish. These
can be used to keep the listener interested,
or add emphasis to particular lines.
~ In the last chorus, bring back the
same background vocals as in chorus 2.
But maybe double them, or add a new
line to counterpoint whats already
there, thus making it bigger than previous choruses.
From a whisper to a roar?
How close to the mic do you want your
background singer(s)? If what youre after
is a soft, breathy harmony vocal, you may
want the singer(s) right up on the mic. If
so, then use an omni mic to avoid the bass
boom you get from directional mics at
such close proximity, and take care to isolate the singer(s) in all directions when
using that omni-directional mic.
When you mix these breathy vocals in,
you may add a bit of reverb to help them
move to the background, or add atmosphere. Background vocals like these can
often sit close to the lead, sharing similar
effects with the lead, and be very effective.
If, on the other hand, you are trying to
capture big, full-voiced background
vocals, allow your singer to move back
off of the mic and belt it out. Allow a bit
of the room sound to get into the recording. This can add some authenticity and
a cool vibe.
Guidance
As the producer, it falls on you to let the
vocalist(s) know what to do. Most performers need the benefit of another set of
ears. In the control room, you have a better perspective than those singing. And
often they dont know if what theyre
doing isnt working.
Sometimes a person singing a background vocal doesnt hear that the style in
which theyre singing is more lead than
the lead! Sometimes a bit less vibrato (or
none) can help. Other times singing less
full-voiced, more breathy, or in a falsetto
(even if the pitch isnt very high) can yield
the right vibe. Feeding them some notes,
suggestions on vibe, and rhythmical
ideas, and then hearing what they do
with those can be a good strategy.
27
Have the singers pay special attention to

things like note length, when exactly to come
off a note and how, and if a long note ends
with a sharp consonant like a T or K that they
cant seem to hit exactly in sync, ask all but one
singers to simply not sing that consonant. One
will suffice, better than three conflicting ones.
To double or not to double:
Doubling any vocal, lead or background,
can add girth and vibe. Its a great tool, and it
has a particular sound. Doubling background
vocals can give them a fatness that is very satisfying. But it can also make a production
sound very different, and in some cases too
big! The best way to figure out whether it will
work to double the vocals is to try it. In some
cases just a doubled lead vocal is all thats
needed! Consider The Beatles Something. There are fully harmonized
lyrics in the bridges and some harmonies in the last verse. But the choruses
are only a doubled melody vocal! Way cool.
And what if youre looking to build a choir out of only a few singers? Doubling,
tripling, quadrupling and more can work great. In these cases, it can be effective
to have your singers change their voice a bit from take to take, use falsetto on one
or two, move their voice back or forward in their throat, or swap mics between
takes. This way, it is less obvious that its only a few singers, and doesnt sound as
homogenous. On the other hand, there are times when this homogenous sound
can work for you... consider Queens Bohemian Rhapsody. Enough said.
ahhs make a great pad in the right song. But unlike

any other instrument they can include lyrics, and
not necessarily the same ones the lead is singing,
which makes them a great tool!
Adding harmonies to the lead vocal, singing the
same lyrics at the same time, as we all know, sounds
awesome. But you can also fill in space, add energy
and emphasis by using the same lyric sung at a different time, for instance an echo. Or use completely
different lyrics sung in counterpoint to the lead vocal.
A great example, and one with which were all
familiar is The Beatles Getting Better. In the first
verse, the lead vocal sings I used to get mad at my
school, and the background vocals answer No I
cant complain. And in the Chorus, the lead sings,
Ive got to admit its getting better, and the background vocals sing better in a longer, drawn out
way. Then the lead sings, A little better all the time,
and the background vocals sing It cant get no
worse. Brilliant.
This can be a very useful tool in building the meaning of a song. In cases where the words in the lead
vocal are not saying a lot, or repeating a short
phrase, the background vocals can say something different and add meaning to the lyric as well as interest to the arrangement. As in the above example,
using a combination of harmonized lyrics and oos
and ahhs can make a good song sound way better.
First and foremost, rememberthe song is king. The meaning of

the song dictates the kinds of decisions you make in any production.
Matching the chords, not the melody
When singing harmoniessolo lines in verses, or multiple harmonies in
bridges or chorusesits important to pay attention to what the chords are
doing. This is especially true in songs with fewer vocals, like just a lead vocal
and one harmony. Ive noticed that many background singers tend to simply
harmonize a third above the melody, singing parallel to it no matter whats
underneath. But this can clash badly with the chords and make things sound
less than stellar. Singing a third above the melody can be awesome, but listen
to what chords are being implied by that harmony, and be sure it matches the
chord youre singing with at every moment. In some cases, changing the harmony up or down a half tone or so outside of that parallel third is necessary.
Sometimes leaving a note hanging a bit longer, past where the melody
changes, or using pedal tones (singing a one-note harmony on a note thats
common to more than one chord throughout a section) can yield great results.
But you may need to alter notes here and there to be sure all is well.
A great example of all of this is The Beatles Nowhere Man. As the harmonies
move through the verses, they are not completely parallel to the melody, but rather
move with the chordsto the extent that when the song starts a cappella the chords
are all there! In particular, check out the lower harmony in the verses!
For an example in a completely different style, listen to almost any Gillian
Welch song. David Rawlings, her brilliant guitarist and harmony singer, is a
master at picking out the right harmony notes to match the melody and the
chords, also to add meaning, emphasize a word, phrase or note, and just to
make the song more interesting.
Lyrics, or ooos and ahhs
The voice is an amazing instrument. And it can be used in so many ways.
Oos and ahhs can add something wonderful to verses or choruses. (Check
out the Beatles Oh! Darling, in the second half of each verse. Listen to the
harmonies used. Listen to where they come in!) Doing big doubled oos and
28
Handle with care

Throughout this process, it is important to keep in
mind that you are dealing with the human voice.
Yes, it is an incredible instrument. It is also something to which listeners are particularly attuned and
sensitive. If it is not treated with care, listeners can
be turned off by it. Keep this in mind when arranging any background vocal part. It ought not to be
trampled on by or clash with other things in the productionespecially not the lead vocal!
Some arrangers prefer to have the background
vocals mimic or sing the same notes as another instrument is playing. This way, theres not too much harmony happening, which can be confusing to a listener. But however you do it, in addition to thinking about
what notes the background vocals sing, so that they
match the chords, think too about what rhythms, styles
and dynamics are happening in the other instruments,
and be sure that the background vocals fit with these.
And, as with the lead vocal, each vocalist has their
own set of talents, limitations, stylistic leanings, and
points of view about music and their own abilities.
Aspire to being a producer who knows how songs, productions and particularly background vocals work, and
being someone who can listen to ideas and make suggestions about them, or come up with completely new
ideas. Then you need to be able to communicate them
to artists and singers, in a respectful way that keeps
everyone happy and excited about the direction the
song is heading. That is a worthwhile talent to develop!
The back endmixing them in

As with how to use background vocals, how to mix them is also a big subject. Some
producers like them way in the background. Some like them as up front as the lead.
Some songs call for one or the other in an obvious way. Others take a bit more experimentation and thinking.
One way to check out how all of the vocals are working together is to solo them.
Some of the tracks may need their volume ridden, so that no words or lines poke out.
Youll also hear where words or consonants dont line up, and where an edit or two
may be needed. Once youve got the individual tracks working well together, put them
back into the mix and see where they should sit.
Compression is a great tool to help the

background vocals sit well. Dont be
afraid to try hitting them a bit hard to find
where the limits of effectiveness are. Often
they can take a good deal of compression
to help them sound great, to help all the
words and parts be audible, and to help
them sit just right. After compressing them,
you may find they can be turned down a
bit more and still be heard.
EQ can also be effective in making
your background vocals sit well, or speak
more in the mix. Again, soloing the background vocals and the lead is a great
idea. This will tell you whether youre
hearing the lead clearly and, if not, how
to bring it in front of the background
vocals in the best way. Adding some high
end to multiple background parts can
help add air, roominess and reality to
them. Taking out some lows or low mids
can often clean up background vocals,
and as a result the whole mix.
When there are more than a few background vocals, I tend to use an Aux In
channel in Pro Tools as a sub for all of
them. This way, by soloing that channel, I
can easily hear what they are doing at
any point. And I can use one set of plugins on all of the background vocals at
once, and turn them all up or down with
one fader. Also I can easily send that
whole mix to a reverb or delay, rather
than sending each individual track there.
(See Figure 1.) This can be particularly
useful when there are lots of vocal tracks!
Again, I tend to listen a lot, and on different systems, to figure out how the background vocals blend in. Giving it a day
or so without hearing the recording, Ill
listen straight through and take notes
about how the background vocals are sitting. Then Ill go back through and tweak
those sections or lines and listen again.
As usual, experimentation with some of
these ideas is key to figuring out the best way
to use them. Have fun and rock on!
Figure 1. Note that all 6 bg voc tracks are sent to Bus 12; the input of the Aux IN
is Bus 12; there is a send on the BG VOCS SUB to Bus 34; and the input of the second Aux IN, the VERB, is Bus 34.
John McVey (mcvey@recordingmag.com)

is an engineer/producer working at
Coupe Studios in Boulder, CO.
BY LORENZ RYCHNER
PreSonus Sceptre S8
CoActual Active Studio Monitors
An innovative coaxial design combines with DSP for an amazing listening experience
center of the woofer sits a black plastic piece of unique shape,
which turns out to be a very special horn projecting the sound
from the compression driver, with a dispersion of 110 degrees x
90 degrees. More about that in a moment. There is a horizontal
bass port low in front, and around back is the regular 3-prong
IEC A/C socket for the detachable power cord, and an on-off
power switch. Audio connectors are balanced 1/4" TRS and XLR.
A level control adjusts the incoming audio signal before it reaches the internal amps, so its not a conventional volume control and
is best left at unity if your studios gain staging is what it should be.
Whats different?
Coaxial Speaker Coherence Alignment, and TQ Temporal
Equalization Technology, thats whats different. Both are from a company called Fulcrum Acoustic. At www.fulcrum-acoustic.com/
technologies/temporal-eq.html you can read a detailed account of
the concept and process that aims at eliminating reflections in the
horn, thus preventing a phenomenon called time smear that can
occur in horns where sound gets acoustically reflected back to the driver repeatedly, smearing transients in the process.
Fulcrum tackles the problem with DSP, after having addressed the
known issues of coaxial speaker arrangement in the hardware
design. The result: A speaker that articulates transients without
smear, offering increased clarity and definition. You can read much
more on the above-mentioned web page, and the new design concepts of the coaxial arrangement are described in great detail at
www.fulcrum-acoustic.com/technologies/building-better-coax.html.
PreSonus managed to incorporate Fulcrums design concepts
in these affordable monitors, including the massive DSP, with
remarkable results.
Did you just do a double take on seeing the word

CoActual? Its a word that the folks at PreSonus have coined,
and you thought you read coaxial, didnt you? Maybe that
was the intent all along? Lets see what we have here.
The two models in the same series, the active two-way Sceptre
S6 and S8, share lots of features. Its easier to list what they dont
share, so lets do that before we concentrate on the S8, the model
we received for evaluation. Ready? The S6 and the S8 differ in the
size of their drivers and cabinets, in their crossover frequencies,
low-end extension, and maximum SPL. Thats it. So, on to the S8!
The S8 cabinet
The black cabinet is made of vinyl-laminated MDF, measuring
11.4" W x 11.8" H x 15.75" D and weighing 24 lbs. each.
Two integrated amplifiers, each rated at 90 W, power the two
speaker elements.
The speaker elements are an 8" woofer made of glass-reinforced paper and a 1" high-frequency compression driver. In the
30
User controls
There is no need for the user to do anything about those issues of
acoustic reflection in horns and problems of coaxial transducer
arrangementsthey are taken care of by behind-the-scenes DSP and
designer wizardry. But there are other issues a user is confronted
with, and the S8 offers considerable control to remedy those. A common quandary is bass buildup as a result of compromises in monitor
placement. In our less-than-perfect rooms we cant always place the
speakers in the acoustically ideal spots, much as we would like to.
Maybe the wall behind where you have to place the monitors
is a bit too close, and you cant help that this placement results in
excessive bass? Your mixes sound bass-deficient when heard elsewhere, because you heard too much bass while mixing and therefore dialed it down? Use the first of three user controls on the rear
of the Spectre S8 and some of that bass will be attenuated. The
Acoustic Space control offers one passive (linear) and three
active settings: 1.5 dB, 3 dB, or 6 dB of the frequency range
below 250 Hz can be attenuated. You probably wont be using
the rather drastic 6 dB setting unless your speaker is not only
close to a wall but maybe near a corner where bass buildup can
be just as drastic. Your ears will have to be the judge.
If you use a subwoofer and you want to

avoidas much as it can be avoidedan
overlap of frequencies, you can use the
Highpass Filter. It rolls off lows at a rather
steep 24 dB/octave at the selectable cutoff
frequencies of 60 Hz, 80 Hz, or 100 Hz. If
your bass build-up (without subwoofer) is
really egregious, you might want to combine the Acoustic Space and Highpass
Filter controls for even more bass attenuation. Both can be active at the same time.
If you need to permanently adjust the
highs as they come off your speaker and
are sounding in your room, you can boost
them by +1 dB or attenuate them slightly by
1.5 dB or 4 dB. This is to be used with
caution, of coursethe owners manual is
quite clear about that, as it is about other
issues where good advice is dispensed.
Sounding off
Out of the box these brand-new speakers
sounded somewhat tight, and after pushing
audio through them for hours on end they
loosened up nicely. So far, so normal.
I set the speakers up a good five feet from
the nearest wall in front and behind, and further from the side walls, on individual stands
out in the middle of a carpeted room with
mostly walls of wood and with a futon and
an upholstered love seat. The room is not
very live, but as I sat on the futon, listening,
situated in an equilateral triangle with the
cabinets, the wall behind me caused me
grief with splashy reflections. Luckily, standing up the massive queen-sized futon against
the wall stopped that, and as I sat in front of
it I was able to focus intensely on nothing but
the sound coming off the speakers.
The bass was rich and full, but not
boomy, and following it down low I couldnt detect any resonances from the port
hole. I was interested in playing with the
user adjustmentsto the extreme, combining the Acoustic Space and Highpass filter at maximum settings, which produced a
sound that screamed get me a subbut
a sub wouldnt have substituted all the missing frequencies, of course. So I reset them
both to Linear and all was well again.
The treble on the S8 is quite smooth, in
my listening room I experienced no benefit
from the available High-Frequency adjustments. I heard none of the stridency that
sometimes shows up in hyped tweeters; on
the S8 under review, cymbals and triangles and the sheen of well-recorded string
sections sounded natural.
The midrange proved to be the most interesting listening experience. Having read
about the design challenges on the web
pages mentioned earlier, I set out to detect
31
a symptom of those inherent design flaws

that the DSP-enriched S8 is said to overcome. Well, you know how you can end up
hearing something if you really want to hear
it? Even if its not there? I put up a disc of a
percussion sample library, and some brass
chorale music, to listen for smeared transients. And I thought I heard some, but then
I also heard them when listening to the same
samples on two other speaker systems of
very different designs, and through good
headphones to boot. So, no, the transients I
heard were not smeared by the S8 unless
they were so on the source.
All in all
I found the overall tonality of the Sceptre
S8 to be evenly balanced from low to
high, open and even forward without

being brash in the mids and upper mids,
presenting voices with acuity, and producing enough quality bass to obviate the
need for a subwoofer.
Whatever wizardry and science hides
behind the unwieldy vocabulary of terms
like Coaxial Speaker Coherence
Alignment and TQ Temporal Equalization
Technology, its working to your benefit.
These speakers will reveal the truth in your
studio at any volume level you care to dial
in. Highly recommended.
Prices: Sceptre S8 (as reviewed), $749.95
each; Sceptre S6, $649.95 each
More from: PreSonus, www.presonus.com
Pearlman
TM-250 Tube Microphone
A handmade mic that evokes a vintage classic mic of oldand sounds like it, too
Dave Pearlman is a designer of high-quality boutique-level microphones that evoke famous models
of the past. He uses construction methods and
materials that are as close to the good old days
as possibleif you look inside one of his mics, you
will find no PCBs or modern shortcuts of any kind.
Like many gear gurus, Dave got his start as a
professional touring musician, then he became a
studio engineer and found himself maintaining,
fixing and tinkering with the gear, and eventually he began building his own.
Daves original microphone was the Rotund
Rascal Mic, named after his studio, followed by
the TM-1 and the more affordable TM-2, both
inspired by the venerable Neumann U 47.
Soon the Pearlman line would grow to include
a spec-for-spec copy of the Stanley Church-modified U 47 built for MGM studios, known as the
Pearlman Church mic, as well as the model we
are reviewing today, a pretty darn close recreation of the Telefunken ELA M 250 known in the
Pearlman line as the TM-250.
Historical note: There was a time when the
original German company Telefunken (that had
grown out of Siemens) had a Telefunken U 47
mic, made for Telefunken by Neumann. When
Neumann stopped production for Telefunken (but
kept making a Neumann-branded U 47, of
course), Telefunken turned to AKG as a resource
for a high-quality Telefunken-branded mic, and
the Telefunken ELA M250/251, based on the
AKG C 12 capsule, was the result.
The TM-250
Dave Pearlmans design is based on the dualpatterned 250 and, like the historic model, offers
cardioid and omni polar patterns. It also offers a
high-cut (no, not a low-cut) filter which gives the
mic a very focused, darker vintage tone. While
the body and grille are of Chinese origin, everything else about this microphone is a handmade
custom product. Dave even has the bodies powder-coated locally.
The capsule brass is a custom-designed C12style capsule made in Denmark by Tim
Campbell. As I mentioned in my introduction,
there are no pre-printed circuit boards or modern
shortcuts. The mic is wired internally point to
point and uses old-style carbon resistors and
other period-specific components. The tube is a
34
hand-picked 6072 (12AY7); in the mic I was

sent it was a GE-made GL-6072. The output
transformer is made for Dave by Cinemag and
is a spot-on replica of those found in the original. If and when an original vintage CK12 capsule becomes available, Dave will build that
into his mic for you, for a charge.
The mic comes as part of a kit which includes
a robust, large-thread shock mount, a mic
pouch, cables that Dave soldiers himself, and a
custom US-built power supply, all housed comfortably in a quality aluminum carrying case.
The look of the TM-250 is tastefully simple and
unassuming. Its 81/4" by 21/8" body is dressed in
a simple grayish tan with an etched dp logo. I
wont bore you with specs and numbers, as there
arent any published by Dave. What matters is
sound, so lets move right into our sessions!
In the studio
I put the TM-250 up initially at a female vocal
session, and the sound of her voice on this mic
was an instant Wow Moment with big dumb
smiles all around. On voice, this mic is just a
stunner. Both male and female vocals are round
and full with a great controlled depth. This mic
has a great proximity effect; if you have a
singer that can work a mic and control his or
her plosives, you will end up with a low chesty
yet natural tone that is amazing.
In omni mode it has essentially no proximity
effect and as such makes a great room mic for
drums, guitar amps, acoustic jam sessions and
more. As a test I turned the mic slowly in a circle as I spoke and sung, and listened to the
results; this has to be one of the most even omni
patterns I have ever heard, with no noticeable
tonal change off axis.
Over a few weeks time I put the TM-250 to
use with a variety of other male and female
singers, nylon- and steel-stringed acoustic guitars, drum kit (single mic overhead and front of
the kit) and percussion.
The TM-250 manages to sound open, smooth
and full all at once. Compared to my high-end
U 47 clone (a BeesNeez Tribute 1) it has a fuller
overall mid section and is less high-mid forward. It does have a nice presence to its highs
and mids, smoother and more natural sounding.
This even smoothness also continues into its low
end, which is full and warm, but not

pushed or hyped like many vintagewannabe mics.
It was nice and balanced on
steel-string acoustic guitar. I also
liked it on a solo nylon acoustic, but
due to the round, dull nature of the
instrument I needed to eq some of
the top end back in to make the guitar pop. (Guitars fault, not the
mics!) Similarly I liked the smooth
wall-of-sound tone it gave to a vintage drum kit when used in front of
the kit. On the flip side, it was a tad
too rounded and full for my tastes
on overheads, where I like just a bit
more cymbal shine.
Tube choices
As an added bonus and for more
flavor choices, Dave sent me three
other hand-picked tubes to try out in
the TM-250: an RCA 12AT7/
ECC81, a GE-5814A Jan, and an
old GE HE 188-3.
Each tube made the TM-250 sound
like a slightly different mic. The stock 6072
was imprinted on my brain as the best and
most hi-fi of the bunch; the RCA was more
forward and tight, and bordered on nasally;
the GE-5814 was the cloudiest of the group,

and the GE-HEdespite having a bit of dogwhistle high-end whinewas tonally my
Dave sent me all of these tubes to

demonstrate how easy it is to tailor this
mic to suit the voicing you are after. If you
order a mic from him, be sure to
discuss the possibilities!
Conclusions
OK, its gush time... the TM-250
is freaking great. Period. Its one of
the nicest-sounding mics that has
ever made it through the doors of
my studio. It makes you realize
why a boutique mic is a boutique
mic, and why a classic was and is
a classic.
I am not saying that it is the best
mic on every source, or that I dont
own or have not heard other mics
that are also amazing. But even at its
significant price, the Pearlman TM250 is in a rare class of microphones, a mic that sonically lives up
to the tender care that goes into building it. It has my highest recommendation, as a sonic work of art.
favorite with a rich, relaxed sound. I am

guessing the tube was starting to go, but finding another tube of this vintage and sound
would be a high priority if I owned this mic.
Price: $3000
More from: Pearlman Microphones,
www.pearlmanmicrophones.com
B Y M I K E M E T L AY
Dangerous Music Source

Monitoring and signal routing for the discerning mobile user
Knowing what youre hearing is a vital

part of serious music work, and its not at
all uncommon for pros in the audio world
to carry a reliable reference monitoring
system with them to studios where they
dont know the room or the speakers. This
might include, at minimum, a well-known
and accurate pair of headphones, and at
maximum, a pair of studio monitors to put
up next to the ones the host studio provides... but in almost every case, the engineer will want a reliable amplifier/router
to run those headphones and/or speakers,
one with sound quality he or she can trust.
Even if you dont plan to take your engineering work on the road, having a really
good D/A converter system guarantees
youre hearing what youre supposed to
hear, and it helps if that can be combined
with a reference monitor switching system
so you can go back and forth between
multiple speakers or headphones, maybe
adding a subwoofer when needed. This is
one area where investing in quality pays
major, lasting dividends.
No matter which camp youre inor
bothyou need to hear about the new
Source from Dangerous Music. This little
router is reference and headphone monitoring with a vengeance.
Front and back
Rackmountable with an optional kit but
small enough to live under a 13" laptop
cozily, the Source is a rugged and impeccably-finished stereo routing device that
supports up to 24-bit/192 kHz audio. A
quick tour of the front and rear panels will
give readers an idea of the options available for audio routing and monitor control
within the Source.
Since inputs and outputs are the core of
the Sources feature set, well start on the
back. The left side of the rear panel has
the Sources four inputs: Analog 2 (TRS
minijack), Analog 1 Left and Right (combination TRS/XLR jacks), AES/SPDIF (also
on a combination TRS/XLR jack, which
36
automatically handles 75 ohm or 110

ohm cables depending on the signal), and
USB 2.0 (on a conventional B connector).
Theres also an AES/SPDIF Through jack
(XLR), so you can pass the digital input signal to other gear in your studio.
The right side of the rear panel has the outputs: Speaker 1 Left and Right on XLR,
Speaker 2 Left and Right on TRS, Selected
Line Out Left and Right on TRS. The latter linelevel output mirrors whichever is the selected
Speaker source, and is unaffected by frontpanel attenuation control. Its intended for situations when youd like to send an
untweaked output signal to an external mixer
or recorder. Be careful not to plug your
speakers into it accidentally; I nearly blew
my brains out when I turned down the
Speaker level to zero and started my DAW
playback, thinking I had my monitors muted!
The rear panel is rounded out by a pair
of jacks for a wallwart power supply.
Why two? The manual states, The PSUSRC can plug into either receptacle. The
other is for possible future accessories that
could run off the main power supply
(shhh). Intriguingand forward-thinking,
considering that the supplied PSU packs a
whopping 2 Amps of current at 12 Volts.
On the front panel, youll find dual 1/4"
TRS headphone outputs, four Headphone
Source selection buttons, a Headphone
Level pot, four Speaker Source selection
buttons, a Speaker Level pot, and two
Speaker Select buttons. All buttons are
backlit, and two of them are pressed simultaneously to enter a Setup mode with some
intriguing hidden features.
Options and extras
As shipped from the factory, the Source
is trivially simple to understand, set up, and
use. You plug in your inputs and outputs,
select your input, choose a set of speakers

or put on headphones, and adjust listening
levels to taste.
But thats just the start; the Source adds a
lot of flexibility to this basic routing. First of
all, the Source sports two independent D/A
converters; that means the Speakers and
Headphones can listen to two different
sources, analog or digital, allowing you to
create and feed cue mixes from your audio
interface to your talent while listening to your

DAWs output directly for mix purposes.
Second, Setup mode allows you to
choose whether each Source Select (independently for headphones and speakers)
works in Toggle or Latch. Toggle mode is
about what youd expect; select an input,
and whatever input you were using before
is turned off. But Latch mode allows you to
select multiple inputs at once, mixing them
inside the Source before you hear them.
Third, all input select buttons can be used
in Momentoggle mode, where a button
can be momentary rather than pushon/push-off. This lets you do things like
quickly route audio to a subwoofer to check
bass, or turn the Source into an on-the-fly
talkback box.
Sound
Dangerous has a reputation for gear
thats solidly built and sounds amazing; that
sums up the Source in a nutshell. All the
functions work as advertised, and in weeks
of constant use in our studio at Recordings
Editorial office, it delivered flawless audio
quality to some half-dozen sets of monitors
and countless sets of headphones. As youd
want in a router, the Source has no sound
of its own; its clear and unobtrusive, effectively noiseless, and gives you every bit of
the audio its fed, whether good or bad.
If there is any down side to the Source,
its the price tag; newcomers to recording
and folks on tight budgets wont be able
to run out and grab one easily. But quality costs, and quality is what the Source is
all about. Dangerous Music has done it
again.
Price: $899 street
More from: Dangerous Music,
www.dangerousmusic.com
Antelope Orion32
32 channels of impeccable audio over USB... how is this possible?
Antelope Audio is a boutique company

well known in professional audio and
audiophile circles for its Zodiac, Isochrone
and Eclipse audio converters, as well as
for the Isochrone 10M Atomic Digital
Clock. Antelope gear, being boutique,
spans the gamut from $2700 up to $5995
(for the Atomic Clock). Thus Antelope created a stir last year when it announced the
Orion32 that packs 32-channels of
Antelope-quality A/D and D/A conversion
into a single rack space for $2995 street.
I know that $3k is not pocket change,
but I say again: 32 channels, Antelope
quality... three grand! Kind of grabs your
attention, doesnt it? The next part had
me even more curiousthe Orion32 uses
USB 2.0 to make this happen!
Meet the Orion32
The Orion32 is both a 32-channel digital
converter as well as a 32-channel USB 2.0
DAW interface. In addition to USB 2.0 it
includes a hearty selection of additional
interface choices, routing options and more.
It is housed in a clean single-rack-space
housing with a thick brushed aluminum
faceplate, with a thick plexiglass-covered
LED/LCD display that shows clock frequency as well as full-on digital metering
for each of the units 32 channels. Nine
silver push buttons control power, frequency, internal settings and presets, and
additional LED lights indicate clock settings and preset choice.
The Orion32 supports sample rates of 32
kHz up to 192 kHz. Its internal clock is a
4th Generation Acoustically Focused Clock
with 64-bit DDS and an Oven-Controlled
Crystal Oscillator. It has a stated stability of
< 0.02 ppm (parts per million), oven-controlled at 64.5 C / 148.1 F.
The Orion32 can also be clocked externally, to Word Clock or Atomically with a
10M. Its A/D and D/A converters have
38
118 dB dynamic range with a THD+N of

105 dB for the A/D and 98 dB for the
D/A. For USB it uses a custom designed
high-speed USB 2.0 chipset with a data
stream of up to 480 Mbits/192 kHz.
More options in back
USB is not this units only connection
option, either. The rear panel is jam-packed
with I/O choices that include 32 channels
of analog input and 32 channels of output
via TASCAM-style D-Sub connections.
Digital connections include four ADAT
Optical sockets (2 in / 2 out), a pair of
MADI I/O, and a pair of standard coaxial
S/PDIF connectors on RCA, as well as four
BNC word clock outputs, a single BNC
word clock input and, a BNC input for locking to the 10M Atomic Clock. There is also
the standard 3-prong power cable socket
and lastly the type B USB 2.0 socket.
Channel counts will vary with ADAT
depending on sample rate settings, and I
should note that the S/PDIF connections
are quite handy for connecting to an
external monitor controller or for connection with older digital gear.
With DAWs
The Orion32s Control Panel software
helps you choose how and where your
signals go, thanks to an elegant dragand-drop matrix that scales itself depending on connection and clock speed. A
pair of faders control master volume and
the hardware display brightness, and
there is even an Antelope news feed built
into the software!
The software also contains a full-fledged
mixer application and settings panel with
signal oscillators, settings for SMUX and
S/PDIF, ADC and DAC channel trims (20
dBu to 14 dBU in 1 dB steps), buffer settings (64 up to 8192 samples), and USB
streaming mode choices ranging from
Minimum Latency for tracking to Extra

Safe for mixdown. This is also where
firmware updates are initiated.
The Orion32 is both Mac and Windows
compatible for most of the popular DAWs
from Logic, Cubase/Nuendo, Pro Tools,
Ableton, Studio One, Reaper and
Samplitude. The only thing to note is that
due to USB limitations, the Orion 32 can
only achieve 24 channels of high sample
rate operation. For complete computability, latency specs and more, be sure to
check out Antelopes website.
Up and...
I installed the Orion32 software on my
2.5 GHz quad i7 late 2011 17"
MacBook Pro running OS X 10.8.5 (I am
not brave enough to go beyondyet)
and on my X980 3.33 GHz PC running
Windows 7 64-Bit Home Premium (not
brave enough for Windows 8 either).
On the Mac, installation was smooth as
butter. On my PC it was rough. The first
problem was my fault, as I tried using a 10'
USB extension cable in addition to the
included 3-meter cable (my PC lives in a
closet on the other side of my studio wall for
noise reasons). Unfortunately, the Orion32
does not like this and you will need to stick
with just the included cable. Tech support
let me know that a slightly longer cable can
be used, but extension cables are a no go!
That issue was easily solved and the
Orion32 installed and locked up with my
PC nicely until I launched Cubase 7.
Initially there was an ASIO conflict
between the Orion32, Windows 7 and
Cubase that would not allow the Orions
clock to lock over USB. This was admitted
by Steinberg to be on their end, and with
the new Cubase 7.5 software released a
few weeks ago, I am happy to say that
things are fixed and have been rock solid
with the Orion32 ever since.
...Flying!
I did multiple D/A listening comparisons between my Lynx Aurora 16 and
the Orion32, as well as session tracking and comparison mixdowns through
14 channels of outboard gear on both units. I am sorry if readers are expecting me to say that one high-end converter system crushed the other, but
often I heard very little difference at all.
If I had to differentiate the two I would say that I found the Orion32 a tad
smoother and more open than the Aurora 16, which was a touch harder
edged and forward. All in all a 5 to 10% difference if that.
This was most noticeable during D/A comparisons of well-known stereo tracks.
When comparing my own mixes done through each machine, playing them
back on my home system, I could barely tell them apart.
That may sound boring, but I actually find it exciting considering how
revered the Aurora is for its stellar sound quality. Add in that the Aurora is 16
channels only and requires an additional PCIe or add-on cards for DAW
connection, all of which cost the same
if not slightly more than the Orion, its
really exciting... not because one is
superior to the other in outright sound quality, but more for just how much bang
for the buck youre getting with the Orion32.
Conclusions
When you combine the sound, feature set, and simplicity of use of the
Orion32 all together into one box as Antelope has, and you consider its
price, you get a conversion system that could legitimately be called a game
changer. And that is a phrase I rarely use.
If you thought it was impossible to fit 32 channels of world-class conversion into a single rack space, Antelope Audio would like to have a word
with you. That word is Orion.
Price: $2995
More from: Antelope Audio, www.antelopeaudio.com
the type of preamp, compressor, and settings, all with relation to the vibe of the production of the song. I just finished recording an album, Seven Hour Storm, for Misner
& Smith (misnerandsmith.com), a vocal-centric group, and in this article well go
through the vocal recording process together.
Ive learned time and time again that whenever possible, it pays to avoid preconceptions about which mic to use in a given scenario. Ive been collecting gear
for decades and at this point I own a few outstanding vocal mics, including two
of what mic guru Klaus Heyne refers to as the Big Fivethe Neumann U 47,
U 67, and M 49, AKG C12, and Telefunken ELA M 251.
With that in mind, we started by setting up an asterisk-array test to determine
the best mic choices for our two vocalistsin other words, we arrayed our mic
choices in an asterisk around a single point so they could all be sung into at
the same time, so we could quickly learn which of our mics was the best fit to
each singer. Paul Vnuk talked about this technique most recently in his article
on home-brewed gear shootouts in our October 2013 issue; to read my take
on the technique, dont sweat if you dont have a copy of our March 2005
issue where I discussed it in detail... the articles available for free in
Recordings online reference library, at tinyurl.com/RecMagVocalAsterisk.
We quickly learned from asterisk-array tests that neither my M 249 (a 1961
broadcast version of Neumanns M 49) nor my C12 sounded best for the context of this album, for either vocalist! When all was said and done, we chose
a variety of mics for lead vocals on this album, most often an AKG C414EB
(with a CK12 capsule) for Sam Misners lead vocals, and a Sanken CU-41 for
Megan Smiths. For specific songs calling for different approaches, we either
used dynamic micsa Shure SM7 and a Shure SM54or ribbon micsa
Coles STC4038 and a Royer R-121.
Positioning the mic
The relative position of the vocalist and microphone depend on a number of
factors, including whether or not the vocalist is also performing simultaneously on
Vocal RecordingMy Take

A noted producer walks us through a typical vocal session
By Bruce Kaphan
Most of the vocal recording I produce or engineer is for pop/folk/rock, and as such this article is
focused on techniques appropriate to these styles.
My preference is for lead vocals to be robust, clear,
and detailedlarger than life. For me, the magic in
a well-recorded vocal lies in the match of vocalist to
microphone, preamp, and compression, all in deference to the production of the song.
Choosing the mic
If time allows, Ill test a number of mics for the task
at hand. Ultimately I choose a mic, the distance from
the vocalist to the mic, the height and angle of the mic,
the use of mechanical plosive filtering (pop filter(s)),
40
an instrument, or is isolated from other vocalists or instrumentalists, the loudness

of the vocalist, the quantity and character of plosives in the lyric, desired intimacy of the performance, and the singers skill at working the mic. I also pay
attention to the proximity effect characteristics of the mic, avoiding it for inadvertent bass response, or taking advantage of it for weakness in the low range
of the vocalist. In the case of an isolated lead vocal overdub, Ill usually ask a
vocalist to keep a distance of approximately 8" from the mic, requesting they
work the mic by moving a little towards the mic at points in their range where
they begin losing power, moving away from the mic when theyre belting.
Because condenser and ribbon mics are sensitive to plosives (ps, bs, ts) and
to sound pressure in general, I try to avoid the most direct line from the vocalists
mouth to the mic. For that reason I rarely position the mics element (capsule or ribbon) at the
same height as the vocalists mouth; instead, I
either place the mic approximately 3/4" above
the vocalists mouth if Im using a tall mic stand from which the mic hangs, or
approximately 3/4" below their mouth if the mic sits atop a stand.
I choose whether to hang the mic or sit the mic atop a stand based on a
number of factors, including whether or not the vocalist is playing an instrument while singing, whether or not the session is being photographed or
videod, and whether or not the mic is a tube mic. I once readand
believethat its wise to hang tube mics, because of the heat generated by
the tube. Capsule end down, the capsule hangs below the tube, and the heat
from the tube rises away from the capsule, thereby hopefully keeping the
capsules response more consistent over the course of a session during which
the mic gradually becomes physically warmer. This should expose the capsule to less heat over the course of its lifetime.
When considering the angle of especially condenser and ribbon mics, Ill
almost always angle the top of the capsule or ribbon approximately 15
away from the vocalist, to reduce possible distortion caused by a direct hit
of high sound pressure. Beyond this, I take into

account the number of plosives in the lyric, and the
way in which the singer is enunciating them; if necessary Ill angle the top up to as far as approximately 30 away from the vocalist.
Dynamic mics
I dont use dynamic mics frequently in recording
lead vocals, but I do use them occasionally. Usually
I turn to a dynamic mic either to capture a live, or
harsher sound and feel, or when isolation is an
important consideration because the lead vocalist is
singing while among a group of musicians.
Ill almost always position the dynamic mics
diaphragm at the same height as the vocalists mouth,
and ask the singer to be approximately 1" or closer
to the mic, knowing that dynamic mics are less sensitive to plosives and sound pressure, and that this closeness is likely contextually appropriate. If a vocalist
time slightly slower than the amount of time

it takes for transient peaks to decay.
With care and attention, this approach
yields a well-recorded vocal that will
serve the track well. You can easily adjust
these tips to work in your sessions... allow
some time to experiment but dont
exhaust your singers in the process!
tends to eat the mic when performing live,

you can reproduce that vibe in the studio
with a similar mic placement.
Avoiding plosives
Once the mic is chosen and set up at the
desired height and angle, Ill always set up
at least one plosive (pop) filter on a mic
stand, and leave it close by, so that once
we start rolling, if we need it, its right there
to be moved into position. My favorite
these days is an Audix PD133. Maybe Im
only imagining it, but compared to other
similar-looking filters, it seems to perform
just as well at reducing plosives, while otherwise leaving less of a sonic footprint. In
addition to the first filter, Ill have a second,
and depending on the vocalist and the
song, sometimes even a third filter set up
and ready to swing into position!
I almost always position the pop filter(s)
at approximately 3" to 5" from the mic,
depending on the power of the vocalist. I
do this both to kill plosives away from the
mic and to define for the vocalist the closest point to the mic at which I want them
to sing. If I want the vocalist to move in on
the mic to bolster weak spots in their
range during the performance, Ill ask
them to get right up onto the pop filter.
The signal chain
Keeping in mind the vibe of the production, Ill choose the rest of the signal
chain based on the sonic characteristics I
desire. For me this usually boils down to
choosing between technologiestube versus discrete solid state versus integrated
circuits. How one picks a preamp to
match a mic is a subject worthy of a
whole article in itself, and experimentation
yields great rewards and fun surprises.
I almost always use some amount of compression, usually a very light amount of an
opto compressor (I love my Pendulum OCL2 for this), and very occasionally a small
amount of limiting on top of that. Since its
always possible to compress more later,
and its impossible to remove compression
from a signal to which it has already been
applied, I dont aggressively compress
vocals while tracking unless Im going for a
very stylized vocal sound. When I do gently compress vocals during tracking, I
almost always set the compression attack
!"#$!%&'()*+,-./-0)1234
45
The editors asked...

...what I have been up to. Its been a while
since Ive written for Recording, and its nice
to be back! Recent album projects for me
include albums by Victor Krummenacher,
Jerry Vessel, Kenny Feinstein, Misner &
Smith, Charles Charnas, Nancy McGinnis
and Jeffrey Halford. Ive continued playing
pedal steel in the studio (Vox Vespertinus,
Francois Nguyen, Jodee Seiders [with producer Chris Johnson], and Bob Forrest [with
producer Ian Brennan]), and after a long hiatus Ive begun playing live gigs again, performing with Mark Eitzel, Jodee Seiders and
Misner & Smith. Im currently also scoring
Judy Irvings (The Wild Parrots of Telegraph
Hill) next film, Pelican Dreams.
By the way, if youd like to hear some of
the vocals I have recorded in these sessions,
visit tinyurl.com/RecMagKaphanMyTake.
Bruce Kaphan (kaphan@recordingmag.com)
is a composer/musician/engineer/producer
based in the Bay Area of Northern
California. Learn more about him and his
work at www.brucekaphan.com. All photos
are of the artist Kaze, by The Sportographer.
Samson Resolv SE Active Studio Reference Monitors

When did solid, reliable monitoring quality become this affordable?
Samsons new Resolv SE active speakers arent the only affordable monitors
weve reviewed recently or are about to
review, but theyre among the more significant arrivals in this Editors listening
room in 2013. Read on... but do me a
favor and dont skip ahead to the prices at
the end until youve read the review.
The three Resolv SE models are named
for their woofer sizes: the Resolv SE5,
Resolv SE6, and Resolv SE8. The Resolv
120a, an active 10" subwoofer with 120
Watts of power and nice extras like builtin phase switch, active crossover, and
remote mute switch, rounds out the line.
For this review, I received two pairs of
Resolv SE monitors, the SE5 and SE6. I
burned in both sets of speakers with two
days worth of music playback, and then
lived with them for several weeks in
Recordings Editorial offices.
On paper and out of the box
The Resolv speakers are sold individually, making it easy to build multichannel
setups if desired. Each speaker has a
1.25" soft dome tweeter with a neodymium magnet and a woven carbon fiber
woofer (5", 6.5", or 8" depending on the
model). The Resolv SE is biamplified:
20W+50W (SE5) or 25W+75W (SE6
44
and SE8) with a multipole active crossover

with a crossover frequency of 3.19 kHz.
The two drivers are enclosed in a solidly
built front-ported MDF enclosure with a
front-panel waveguide around the tweeter.
A bright white LED indicates power on.
The rear panel of the Resolv SE5 offers
unbalanced RCA and balanced 1/4" TRS
inputs; the SE6 and SE8 add a balanced
XLR input as well. A standard IEC power
cable connects to a jack with an easily
accessible fuse panel, near the power
and voltage-range switches.
Each Resolv monitor sports two rear-panel
pots: a center-detented Volume pot and a
four-position HF Level switch. The HF Level
switch controls a shelving EQ with a 4 kHz
corner frequency, with settings of 2 / 0 /
+2 / +4 dB. A high-frequency control is
handy when you want to use the speakers
in an overly reflective or muddy room, or
simply tweak their sound to individual taste.
What makes this arrangement unusual is
that there is no corresponding control to roll
off bass excess that might occur if youre
forced to place the speakers too close to a
rear wall or in a corner. While I was surprised at that omission, I wasnt expecting
too much trouble in my listening tests; my
room is set up in such a way that bass
buildup is rarely if ever an issue.
Listening to the Resolv SE6

I set up a listening position with the larger Resolv SE6 in place of my usual nearfields at one end of a small but well-treated room, on Ultimate Support speaker
stands at head height, nicely toed in and
symmetrical (thanks to Genelecs awesome SpeakerAngle app for iOS!) in an
equilateral triangle roughly 80" on a side.
I lined up many of my usual listening tests
from conventional CDs and high-bitrate
audio fileslots of reliable rock standards
from the 1960s and 1970s, modern releases from bands like Florence+The Machine
and Neko Case, some well-recorded jazz,
country, and classical tracks, and my
beloved electronica, EDM, and ambient as
well. As always, I added in some of my
own music, both as artist and as engineer
or producer... particularly those infamous
mid-1980s recordings from my first home
studio that were so fraught with, shall we
say, teachable moments.
I also did some listening at heavier MP3
compression levels, as far down as 128
kbps; while well-encoded 320k MP3s can
be largely indistinguishable from CD
audio when listened to on any but the
most discerning speakers or headphones,
its not hard to hear artifacts in lowerbitrate files if your speakers are honest.
Samson quotes the SE6s low-frequency
response as 45 Hz27 kHz, 3 dB (the
tolerance is given in the owners manual
but not on the website). 3 dB down at 45
Hz is respectable performance for a 6.5"
woofer, and listening to bass-critical material through the SE6, I can believe it.
One of my favorite bass tests is Aga
Zaryans jazz album Pick Up The Pieces,
which has several tracks of nothing but
Agas exquisite voice backed up by solo
upright bass. If a speaker gets bass
wrong, it will destroy those tracks, but I
found them nicely enjoyable with the
Resolv SE6. Bass on these speakers is tight
and well-defined, with no sloppiness or
nasty resonances that make certain notes
honky or thumpy. Rolloff at the extreme
lows was gentle enough so that when you
stop hearing the fundamental of the deepest notes, the harmonics fill in nicely in
your head. If youre in a small room
where bass buildup is an issue, youll
have to be careful with speaker placement

for sure, especially since theres no lowfrequency adjustment on board, but in my
room, the low end I got was plentiful and
listenable with no need for a subwoofer.
Transitioning from the lows to the mids, I
found the Resolv SE6 to be blessedly free
from the forwardness that plagues some
inexpensive rock-friendly monitors. Vocals
and guitars, those critical litmus tests in rock
mixes, spoke clearly and in their own
spaces without unpleasant smearing or
muddiness. The crossover didnt call attention to itself with any drastic timbral shifts or
unevenness; when a mix was congested to
begin with, as on Dog Days Are Over by
Florence+The Machine (from Lungs), it came
across that way on the Samsons.
The claimed 27 kHz extension of the
tweeter is impossible to hear except on
high-sample-rate audio (my 24/96 versions
of Pink Floyds Dark Side Of The Moon and
the Beatles Rubber Soul are special
favorites), but highs in general were clear
and detailed without a lot of hashiness
except when it was in the source material.
I could hear how this tweeter could be overwhelming in the wrong room, making the
ability to turn the highs down by 2 dB a
potential lifesaver, but I couldnt imagine
turning the highs up on these speakers! (All
my serious tests on both speakers were
done with the HF Level set flat, after some
quick listens determined that was best.)
I found the Resolv SE6 to have a nicely
wide and forgiving sweet spot with respect
to soundstaging. The stereo remaster of
Revolver by the Beatles, with its hardpanned sources, is very interesting to listen
to in this context, as the mixing happens
in the phantom center of the stereo range,
and it sounded fantastic on the Samsons,
even on complex tracks like Love You To.
The Rick Rubin-produced tracks from late in
Johnny Cashs recording career had a
marvelous sense of intimacy and presence,
especially in the lead vocal.
My overall impression was very favorable; this is a speaker that a serious
recording musician could easily learn
backwards and forwards, creating believable mixes that would translate well to
other speakers and rooms. With the usual
cautions that the extreme low end should
be checked on much larger speakers or
with a subwoofer, the Resolv SE6 would be
a fantastic first studio monitor that could
easily keep up with your growing rig.
Listening to the Resolv SE5

The Resolv SE5 is a small speaker that
is well-suited to desktop studio setups. For
my listening sessions with the SE5, I
installed the speakers on IsoAcoustics ISOL8R155 monitor stands in a fairly tight
arrangement, an equilateral triangle
roughly 46" on a side and down-angled
slightly for my listening position.
My listening experience with the Resolv
SE5 was quite similar to what I heard on the
SE6, but naturally with a bit less bass. For
these smaller speakers, I had to rely a lot
more on the harmonic structure of low piano
and bass notes rather than a clear projection of the fundamental; Samson quotes 50
Hz to 27 kHz 3 dB, but that number might
be a tad generous on the low end.
Even so, the SE5 displayed the same
solid and well-imaged soundstage, with a
slightly smaller sweet spot (due to the much
tighter listening setup), and the same reliable mids and clear highs. With less bass,
I found the highs a bit more potent on the
SE5 (another artifact of the very close listening environment), and while most of my
listening was done with the HF Level set
flat, turning it down by 2 dB helped
smooth some of my more strident MP3s
which, by the way, were easy to pick out
from higher-quality encodings.
I could see the Resolv SE5 doing very
well on its own in a small room with tight
dimensions and a lot of natural bass
buildup countering the smaller woofers
less powerful low end; alternatively, they
would pair well with a properly placed
subwoofer. With monitors like these
around, theres simply no excuse to saddle your desktop audio system with tiny,
cheap-sounding speakers.
We hereby Resolv
To say that Samson is onto something
here would be a massive understatement.
These are solidly made, great-sounding
speakers that would be suitable for any
small room or desktop DAW rig. They
have a smooth frequency response, a very
usable sweet spot, lots of detail and very
little of what makes cheap speakers so
unpleasant. The lack of low-frequency
adjustment is a small matter that can be
addressed through speaker placement in
many rooms, and once thats done, the
resulting audio will be something any engineer could work with in confidence.
Okay, Im done. Now you can look at
the prices. Just make sure youre sitting
down first.
Prices: Resolv SE5, $124.99 each;
Resolv SE6, $149.99 each; Resolv SE8
(not reviewed), $199.99 each; Resolv
120a subwoofer (not reviewed),
$229.99
More from: Samson Technologies,
www.samsontech.com
45
Novation Launch Family

Hardware and software that makes computer-based song creation a breeze
Novation has a proud history of exceptional tools for the electronic musician and composer, from now-iconic analog-modeling hardware synths like the Bass Station and SuperNova to
powerful controllers like the ReMOTE SL Series. With the Launch
family of products, Novation has an ambitious goal: put the
right tools for working with modern music performance/composition DAWs in everyones hands at an approachable price.
The Launch line consists of seven hardware and two software
products, aimed at users of interactive DAWs that allow users to
quickly build up ideas into frameworks for finished tracks on the
fly. In this review well look at five of them: the Launchpad Mini,
Launch Control, and Launchkey Mini hardware controllers, and
the Launchpad and Launchkey iOS apps.
The other products are the Launchpad S, a larger version of the
Launchpad Mini thats operationally identical to its smaller sibling,
and the three Launchkey controllers, full-sized 25/49/61-note keyboards that add control surface features like faders to the functions of
the other Launch units. When appropriate, Ill make references to those products special features in this review.
Ready for Launch
So why Launch? The term comes from Ableton
Live, which pioneered the now-familiar method of creating song frameworks by playing back beat-matched
loops and sampleslaunching clips, in Live terminologyin real time, trying out and discarding ideas
rapidly to build up a track. Ten years ago, the mainstream music composition world dismissed Live as
46
cheating or as good for nothing but dance music, but nowadays millions of users have discovered how easy it is to quickly
capture ideas that then allow for fully-fleshed tracks to be built
atop them with recorded instruments and vocals.
Live is seeing use in every genre from indie rock and jazz to
country and Americana, and its basic system of clip launching
has been quietly adopted (and/or adapted) by many other
DAWs. Many users of mainstream DAWs like Pro Tools simply
keep a copy of Live running alongside, so quick composition
can be married to traditional DAW music production.
But as any user of these DAWs can tell you, this creative
process can be badly hindered if you dont have an easy and
inspiring way to launch and work with clips. Pressing keys on
your laptop or clicking with the mouse is a surefire way to kill
creativity! Ideally, youd have a simple, small, portable, unobtrusive controller close at hand, that makes clip-based composition easy and intuitive without a lot of fuss. You could pick and
choose features as needed, say to tweak effects in real time
(since those tweaks are recorded by these DAWs and easy to
recall later if you like them) or to play a virtual instrument and
lay down melodic ideas or chords along with your clips.
The Launch products have been optimized from the ground up
to allow you to do just that. Theyre portable and play well
together within your DAW, so you can easily assemble your
dream composition system from affordable parts.
In common
These devices are all bus-powered from USB; they run happily on any Windows PC or Mac, and a single unit can be connected to an iOS device using Apples Camera Connection Kit.
(To use multiple Launch System devices with an iPad, youll have
to add a powered USB hub. My tests with a 7-port Belkin hub
were all flawless.) Theyre built on lightweight but reassuringly
solid plastic chassis for ease of transport, and they give the
impression of being built to withstand serious use, including getting tossed into a laptop bag and banged around in transit.
While controls and functions differ from unit to unit, the overall
process of installing and working with the Novation Launch hardware is comfortingly consistent as you add units to your rig, so youre
not really starting from scratch each time. Each Launch device comes
with a registration number that you enter online in a user account that
you create on the Novation website; once

youve registered your device, you can
download the latest firmware updates, manuals and documentation to supplement the
small paper Getting Started Guide that
comes with each device, and (where appropriate) companion software that helps you
customize how the device works for your rig.
The whole process of setting up each device
takes only a few minutes. These devices all
come with a free download of a very capable Lite version of Ableton Live, so you can
try it for yourself if you dont have it already.
While these devices were originally
inspired by Live, they can work with any
clip-based or realtime-composition DAW,
and come out of the box ready to use with
Image-Line FL Studio and (in the case of the
Launchkey Mini) Propellerhead Reason,
with adaptation to other DAWs being a relatively quick and easy task. Cakewalk
SONAR users, who have come to enjoy that
DAWs Matrix View in recent years, should
take special note. I did my tests in Live 9.1.
Launchpad Mini
I reviewed the original Launchpad in our
December 2009 issue; it was Novations
first Live-specific controller, and became an
indispensible mainstay of my rig that I still
use today. The Launchpad S, a refinement
to the original design, added driverless
support for Windows, Mac, and now iOS,
as well as an optional lower-power mode
that allowed it to be used with iPads. The
Launchpad Mini is essentially a Launchpad
S in a significantly smaller box; the smaller
pads are only a little bit more fiddly to use,
but you can easily take it anywhere.
As on the original and S, the Launchpad
Mini has a grid of 64 soft silicone buttons
to launch clips in Live, and a set of 16
extra function buttons along the top and
right edges. It comes with three sets of
stickers to label those outer buttonsone
for Live, one for FL Studio, and a blank set
you can write on yourself. The main grid
buttons have three-color LEDs to indicate if
a clips loaded (yellow), playing back
(green), or being recorded (red).
The Launchpad lets you launch clips
from Lives Session View, the controller
mirroring the arrangement of clips as
shown in Live. If you have more than 8
rows or columns of clips, the Launchpad
Mini can show an overview of your entire
Session, up to 64 rows by 64 columns,
and let you quickly zoom in on the 8 x 8
area youre interested in.
If you select the Mixer mode, the
Launchpad Mini becomes a handy control
surface that gives you access to track levels,
48
panning, Send A and B amounts, and to

one-touch control of clip stop, track
mute/unmute, solo, and track arm (useful
for activating virtual instruments as well as
recording clips). Note that the volume, pan,
and send controls are very coarse, but if
you dont have a dedicated control surface
handy, they can be very useful in a pinch.
There are also two User modes, which
effectively allow the Launchpad to be reprogrammed for a wide variety of MIDI-based
applications. You can use it to trigger drum
sounds in Lives Drum Rack (although the
pads are not velocity sensitive), or control
Max For Live devices with it. Some enterprising programmers have even figured out
ways to use it as a grid-based performance
keyboard la Abletons new Push.
By powering on the unit with four of the
function buttons pressed, you bring up a special boot mode. This is where you update
firmware, set whether the Launchpad Mini
operates in low or full power mode, and
where you can do one more incredibly
handy trick: set the Minis Hardware ID number from 1 to 16. This lets your DAW recognize multiple Launchpads as distinct from
one another, letting you build larger control
surfaces from small pieces... up to six at a
time in Live, for example.
In use, I found the Launchpad Mini just as
easy to use as the original; I didnt mind the
smaller buttons and actually preferred this
units more portable size to that of the original. It also felt better built than my original
Launchpad, with a more solid heft; its
smaller but not a lot lighter than the original. I was easily able to set it up with a second Hardware ID so it could coexist with
my Launchpad in the same Live Session. All
in all, a total winner... only smaller.
Launch Control
As I said earlier, control of volume, pan,
and Send amounts on a Launchpad is very
coarse, with only eight steps from zero to
full-on. Also, it can be a hassle to switch
back and forth constantly from Session to
Mixer mode when youre trying to play or
compose. For folks whod like to add some
handy extras to a Launchpad or who just
want a very small and focused control surface to use with any DAW, Novation has
released the Launch Control.
This little box is sized to tuck under a
Launchpad or Launchpad S. It offers sixteen
pots, eight pads like those on the
Launchpad S, and a set of six function buttons that change their purpose depending
on what Template is selected. The Launch
Control comes with eight Templates preset at
the factory and eight programmable by the
user. A free Launch Control Editor program
for Windows and Mac allows you to easily

set up your Templates in a simple graphical
environmentjust click on a control and fill
in the menus to determine what MIDI data it
sends. In addition to Ableton Live Lite, the
Launch Control also comes bundled with
sound samples by Loopmasters.
Out of the box, the Launch Control is
ready for use with Novations Launchpad
app (volume and filter control plus sound
triggers), FL Studio 11 (volume and pan
control in the main mixer), and Ableton Live
(three templates for volume/pan/mute, clip
launch, and device control, the latter letting
you quickly select Macro knobs in
Instrument Racks as one example).
Folks who wish the Launchpad had knobs
will adore the Launch Control. Its a simple
two-key operation to rapidly switch between
Templates, so you can easily do much more
with it than its small size would suggest, and
the pots have a smooth, confidence-inducing feel. Because theres only one row of
Clip Launch buttons, you have to keep an
eye on the screen in Live to see which Scene
youre in, but its still quicker than trying to
launch clips with the laptop keyboard or a
mouse. The Launch Control works elegantly
as an adjunct to the Launchpad in situations
where a full-on control surface might not be
available or appropriate.
Launchkey Mini
As handy as they are for launching clips
and activating functions like solo or mute,
buttons cant take the place of a keyboard
for playing melodies and harmonies. In
addition to the full-sized Launchkey keyboard/control surfaces, Novation offers
the very portable Launchkey Mini, a 25key controller with some Launch-friendly
extras that easily fits in a laptop bag.
The Launchkey Mini comes with 8 pots and
16 multicolor pads, in addition to Track and
backlit Octave control buttons on the left and
four multifunction buttons on the right. Note
50
that the pads can operate like those on the

Launchpads, but are velocity sensitive, making them suitable for playing and programming drum virtual instruments. The Launchkey
Mini comes bundled with Novations Bass
Station and V-Station virtual instruments for
Mac and Windows as well as Ableton Live
Lite and a Loopmasters sample set.
The Launchkey Mini offers rapid and
effective DAW integration for a variety of
platforms, thanks to a built-in mapping system called InControl, which instantly maps
the Launchkey Minis controls to appropriate parameters. You can check out the
documentation to find out the particulars
for your DAW; the DAW Setup Guide
describes how to get the Launchkey Mini
working in Pro Tools, Cubase, Logic Pro,
and Reason, as well as Live and FL Studio.
Novation offers special software that
allows for expanded integration with FL
Studio and Reason; for the other InControlfriendly DAWs, the Launchpad Mini either
operates as a straightforward MIDI device
or emulates the Mackie HUI, a commonlysupported control surface protocol seen in
many DAWs. (Thats how it works in Pro
Tools, for example.)
There doesnt seem to be direct InControl
support yet for SONAR or Studio One, but
perhaps those will come in a later update.
For DAWs that dont have InControl support, the Launchkey Mini can be operated
in Basic mode, as a conventional MIDI
controller with fixed MIDI messages on

every control that can be mapped to any
functions you wish within your DAW. This
places the burden of mapping on your
DAW, but thats a very sensible decision;
no serious DAW lacks such mapping capability, and it removes the need for custom
editing software. (Having such an editor
makes sense for the Launch Control, as it
allows the user to create and store multiple
programmable Templates.)
Its worth noting that in Basic mode, the
velocity-sensitive pads send MIDI Notes on
MIDI Channel 10, and cant be reprogrammed for other purposes unless your
DAW can use MIDI Notes as control input.
Things like Clip launching are done in various DAWs via InControl mode. The MIDI
Channel for the pads cant be changed; all
other controls can be globally set to any
one MIDI Channel.
Using the Launchkey Mini with Ableton
Live was a revelation. The InControl setup is
fantastic; I could arm a virtual instrument for
play just by selecting the track it was loaded
to, Scene Launch and Clip Stop functions
were always close at hand, and navigation
was a breeze. My only regret was that I didnt have the larger Launchkey to try out, with
its full-sized keys and performance controls
like pitch and modulation wheels. If youre
a Live user who enjoys playing keyboards
on the fly, the Launchkey Mini is a real treat.
If only it had aftertouch! (Aftertouch is available on Novations higher-end Impulse controllers, along with many other DAW-friendly niceties.)
Apps: Launchpad and Launchkey
Novation is heavily committed to the rapid
growth of music composition and performance on iOS devices. All of these hardware
controllers are iOS-compatible thanks to the
Apple Camera Connection Kits that connect
USB cables to the 30-pin and Lightning iOS
dock connectors. But a good controller is only
half of the equationyou need an app to
play, and Novation has addressed this need
with two apps for the iPad, Launchpad and
Launchkey. Theyre free, and you dont need
a Novation controller to try them out.
Launchpad is a 6 x 8 array of pads that
trigger loops and sounds from an internal
library by Loopmasters; it comes with 8 premade kits, and you can build your own using
the library sounds (the ability to import your
own audio files is a $6.99 in-app purchase,
and you can purchase new sound libraries as
well). You can control whether each sample
loops, plays as a one-shot and stops when
released, or plays all the way through once
touched. Samples can hand off to one another at or within bar or beat lines, with a fineness you can set for each pad.
Each of the 8 columns is one audio
channel; one sample per column can play
at a time, and each channel has its own
volume and filter settings (highpass or lowpass). An FX array lets you trigger stutter
and filter-sweep globally on all tracks;

there are 16 such effects operated from
pads of their own on a pop-up page.
When the app is used with Launchpad
S or Launchpad Mini, you can trigger
sounds and FX all over the array; Launch
Control and Launchkey Mini let you trigger sounds or FX one or two rows at a
time, and also control volumes and filter
settings for all eight channels.
I found this app to be a fun and fast way

to create beats and mixes; the controls are
intuitive and the sounds are by and large fantastic (typical of Loopmasters). One feature I
wished for in my tests, added in version 1.3
just as we went to press, was the ability to
save and export songsin this case, to
SoundCloud, to Dropbox, or via email.
Launchkey is a polyphonic analog modeling synthesizer with built-in arpeggiator and
80 preset sounds. There are eight parameter
knobs, and an unusual and intuitive visual
programming surface that lets you morph
between multiple sets of parameter values
called nodes by dragging your finger
between them. Its much easier to try for yourself than to explain in words; I strongly recommend giving Launchkey a try, youll be up
and playing with cool sounds in seconds.
While you cant create your own programs or save edits to the existing presets,
you can send Launchkeys audio to other
apps via Audiobus, a feature missing thus far
from the Launchpad app. Speaking of which,
if you launch both apps at once, they can
play simultaneously and you can sync the
Launchkey arpeggiator to the Launchpad
apps tempo. The Launchkey Mini allows you
not only to play notes but also to turn the
apps knobs, jump between nodes with one
pad press, jump between the Launchkey and
Launchpad apps on the fly, and select from
eight favorite presets of your choice; the
larger Launchkey keyboards add control of
envelopes, volume, and arpeggiator settings.
Launchkey sounds really good in addition to being visually engaging. Ive
always been a fan of Novations analog
modeling, and the presets in Launchkey
were fun and inspiring, prompting lots of
lost hours just playing the app and smiling

like a fool... always a good sign!
Wrapup
I had a blast playing with these controllers! They work seamlessly out of the
box, provide a huge range of very useful
functions for anyone composing in clip- or
grid-based DAWs as well as iOS apps,
and network with one another cleanly and
reliably. My tests using all three surfaces

at once plus my own Launchpad in
Ableton Live were seamless; the line really does have integration dialed in nicely.
The apps are a treat; if you have an iPad,
grab them for free and try them for yourself.
Alone or integrated with Launch controllers,
theyre well-designed, sound marvelous, and
will provide lots of inspiration on the go.
Novation has made the world of easy
clip-based performance and composition
open to anyone and everyone with the
Launch family. Do yourself a favor and
check them out; if you were feeling uncertain about getting to know a clip-based
music platform before this, these controllers
may well banish those fears for all time.
Prices: Launchpad Mini, Launch Control,
and Launchkey Mini, $99.99 each;
Launchpad and Launchkey apps, free.
Not reviewed: Launchpad S, $169.99;
Launchkey 25 / 49 / 61, $149.99 /
$199.99 / $249.99
More from: Novation,
www.novationmusic.com
51
Part 2
By Joe Albano
Last month, Part 1 of this 2-part article looked at the
basics of reverberation: the physical components of a
reverberant sound field (along with all the relevant terminology), capturing the sound of real spaces for
recording, mechanical reverb devices, digital reverb
plug-ins, including the typical controls for the most common types, and the use of reverb on drums. This month,
Ill continue discussing applications of reverb, as well
as some of the more advanced types of reverb plug-ins,
and take a brief look at a few popular brands that are
in wide use nowadays.
Since the theme of this issue is vocal recording,
applying reverb to vocals would be a good
place to start.
The voice
Just as with drum reverb, vocal treatment
ranges from bone dry (little or no reverb) to
dripping wet (soaked in rich reverb), and anything in between. Sometimes this is a function
of musical genrefor example, rap/hiphop,
and other styles where the lyrics are spoken (or
partially spoken), often feature very dry vocal
tracks, while bands that might be described as
arena rock, who often perform in large
spaces, might tend toward a much heavier application.
But even within genres, and even between songs on an
album, there can be a lot of variation. A song with a
quiet, more intimate vibe might benefit from a light
application of room sound, while one with a fat beat
and a big, anthemic chorus might be pumped up nicely by the sound of a large, echo-y room.
When adjusting the parameters of a reverb thats
being applied to a vocal, the settings can be somewhat
different from those used on drums, as described in
Part 1. While drums (and many instruments) are percussive in nature, with sharp attacks, vocals are more
sustaining, with less prominent attack transients and
longer held notes. This usually calls for a different
approach when adding reverb.
52
As noted, drums and instruments often benefit from a

tight reverb sound, with a dense pattern of reflectionsthis would be achieved with a higher setting of
the Density control and a more irregular pattern (the
Diffusion control), both of which would help to avoid a
splattery, echo-y reverb quality. But longer, sustained
notes of a (sung) vocal part would benefit from the
oppositea more open, echo-y reverb quality can add
a nice sense of depth under a melody, and without the
really strong transient attacks of, say, a drum, there
neednt be negative effects from strong repetitive reflections within the reverberant sound field.
So, a lower Density setting can be used to good

effect, and Diffusion can be set for a more regular pattern of reflectionsthis can enhance a vocal rather than
degrade it, as such settings would likely do with drums
or percussion tracks. In fact, one of the most basic and
most common effects often added to a vocal is called a
Slap Echoa simple delay of around 100150 milliseconds added to a lead vocal track for a little depth.
Using reverb settings as above, which emphasize the
individual reflections within the reverb, is a more subtle
way of applying this kind of effect. Set the Initial Delay
to around 100150 msec, and dial up a room with low
density, and you can add considerable richness to the
vocal without thickening or muddying it up too much, as
might occur with a denser reverb quality.
Of course, an echo-y vocal reverb is not

the only way to go. While that approach
can add a nice sense of depth, the opposite can also work well. Many people like
the sound of a plate reverb on vocals, and
plates are usually dense, without a strong
echo component. However, if applied subtly, a plate can add a nice sheen to a
vocal without calling too much attention to
itself. A nice bright plate, with enough of
an Initial Delay (as above) to give the original vocal track some breathing room, can
add some gloss to a vocal, while still
allowing the track to sound up-front and
relatively unprocessed in the mix.
Vocal space
When applying reverb to vocals, youll
want to be careful that any extra richness
isnt achieved at the expense of clarity
and lyrical intelligibility. Additionally,
adding reverb and delays to a vocal tends
to put the track in a more three-dimensional space. Thats a good thing, but that
sense of space can also tend to push the
vocal further back in the imaginary space
the vocals and instruments inhabit.
Depending on other settings in the mix,
this could potentially result in a lead vocal
that seems to be coming from the back of
the (virtual) stage, behind the drums, bass,
and other instruments. If the reverb is too
strong, the end result may be a vocal that
seems to be overwhelmed by other musical parts, in terms of clarity and presence,

even if its loud enough in the mix.
Many mixers prefer that the lead vocal sit
in front of the virtual soundspace of the mix
(closer to the listener), regardless of how wet
or dry it may be. At the same time, background vocals may be more appropriately
pushed a little further back in the virtual
soundspace, to reaffirm their musically supporting role. Now, this sense of three-dimensional placement is subtle, but getting the
elements to sit front-to-back in a mix can
enhance not only clarity, but reinforce the
musical roles of the different parts.
To give myself a little more flexibility in
this regard, I often do the same thing with
vocal reverb as I do with drumsset up at
least two different, dedicated vocal

reverbs. One emphasizes Early Reflections
(ER), to create a sense of depthadding
this will push the vocal into the virtual
space, potentially further back into the
soundstage. Another reverb emphasizes
the later Reverb tail morethis one can
add depth and sheen to the vocal without
as much of a sense of three-dimensionality.
Sometimes I use a third, a very small ambience ER reverb, like a stage ambience,
which can add some dimension to the
vocal, but not enough room tone to push it
back in the mix (as the other ER reverb
might do). Each of these reverb plug-ins
would be instantiated in its own Aux track,
and each vocal track would have multiple
Sends, feeding each reverb independently,
allowing the blend of reverb for each vocal
part to be optimized. For more details on
this hookup, see the description of Send &
Return wiring in Part 1 last month.
The exact settings for each of these
reverb components are done by ear
theres no real formula (other than the general suggestions offered earlier)they
depend on the specifics of the particular
recording and the particular reverb units
employed. Typically, these vocal reverbs
might have lower density than the dedicated drum reverbs elsewhere in the mix,
but decisions like overall brightness,
Reverb Time, and Initial Decay would be
based on the specifics of the recording,

the arrangement, and the mix.
For example, if I want a lead vocal to sit
in the front of the stage/mix, Ill apply a bit
of the ER verb to put the vocal track in the
spaceexactly how much will depend on
how much reverberant depth other elements of the mix have, and how dry the
vocal track itself was recorded. When I get
it sitting about right, if I feel that the vocal
track is too dry or plain against the full
mix, I might add a little of the later Reverb
unit for some sheen. Too much of this could
compromise clarity, but the right amount
will leave the vocal in front of the mix, with
a little more richness. If I cant quite get the
depth I want for the lead vocal without
pushing it too far back in the mix, I might
try a little of the third ambience (stage)
verb, balancing that against the main ER
verb until the vocal has both the desired
presence in the mix, and the desired depth
and sheen. Sometimes adding a simple
delay/echo can help, as well.
Needless to say, this is not a linear AB-C process; its a constant back and
forth, adjusting and tweaking individual
reverb settings, and re-adjusting as the
mix progresses and other elements
change. In addition to settings like
Density and Diffusion, Id pay particular
attention to Reverb Time and Tone.
Nothing can compromise the intelligibility
of a vocal track like a reverb thats too
dark, with a tail thats too long. An overly dark reverb can muddy up the critical
lower midrange, making lyrics more
indistinct. A reverb with too long a decay
(RT60) can likewise compromise clarity,
as a long tail from previous vocal lines
can extend into the next phrase, covering
and blurring the all-important attacks of
the words following.
A time for reverb
Generally, if I have dedicated vocal
reverb(s), Id set the Reverb Time (of the
longest reverb, if there are several) based
on two main considerations: How long a
tail would I prefer for this particular vocal
performance, and how long a tail can I get
away with in this particular mix? Personally,
for pop/rock, I typically like a relatively
short Reverb Time, a little less than a second, more like club ambience than a hall or
theater. However, if I was mixing, say, a
new age track, the style may call for a
much longer, more billowy decay, on the
order of 23 seconds or more.
54
Either way, the question comes up: does

the Decay Time I prefer when I consider the
vocal by itself, work when that vocal is sitting in the mix? A really short decay might
offer just the right amount of depth and
sheen soloed, but in the mix other parts
may cover it up, leaving the vocal overly
dry, requiring a bit more tail to achieve the
desired effect. Likewise, a nice long tail
that fills the space between vocal phrases
with rich room sound when the vocal is
heard alone, might muddy up other instruments or parts when everything is on.
This is similar to the dilemma that mixers
often face with EQwhat sounds best
soloed does not work in the full mix, and
vice versa. Typically, the approach is often
to get a good setting soloed, and then make
the necessary adjustments with the track in
context, and again as the mix changes.
Sometimes, if there are both sparse or
solo vocal passages and sections where
the vocal has dense musical accompaniment, compromise settings might not provide the best results in either situation. In
this case, automation could be used to
switch between different reverb plug-ins or
change the settings dynamically, optimizing for the requirements of each different
section in the arrangement. I find that I

dont often have to go that far if the overall room sound in use has a short decay,
but in songs where a longer Reverb Time
is used, its come up.
A tone for reverb
Another key consideration is the tonal
quality of the reverb. To preserve vocal
intelligibility, as well as overall clarity of
the mix, its important to avoid too much
buildup in the lower midrange and bass
frequencies. This can be accomplished in
a variety of ways. Most reverbs have
some form of tone controls included, but
these mostly act on the highs (a LPF), or
on the reverb tail only. Some reverbs
have separate Decay Time settings for
high and low frequencies. In real rooms,
the highs usually die away more quickly
than the lows, but in a busy mix sometimes the opposite behavior can be
advantageous, though unnatural.
An EQ following the reverb can be
employed to shape the tonal balance, with
either broad or targeted cuts applied to the
lower mids and bass frequencies. If a vocal,
or an overall mix, seems to get a bit thick
and muddy when the reverb is in, and
Decay Time is short enough not to be the culprit, then low-end buildup might be the problem. In a vocal reverb, a broad, gentle cut
around 200 Hz and below might alleviate
muddiness. If the reverb seems to be ringing
on certain notes, a more targeted (narrower) cut (a notch) at a specific frequency
could be neededa spectrum analyzer, if
available, can help to pinpoint the problem
area, allowing for greater clarity without
thinning out the reverb quality too much.
Its usual for mixers to add little or no
reverb to deep instruments with long notes,
like bass, to avoid muddiness issues. If
reverb was required on a bass track, say,
as an effect, a dedicated plug-in could be
employed, with the reverbs low end filtered, or the Send from the bass track
could be passed through an aux with an
EQ to keep the low end under control.
Reverb in the mix

Obviously, Ive begun shifting from talking
about vocal reverb specifically to more general reverb considerations, so let me wrap
up this discussion with a few additional comments on overall reverb use. Ive mentioned
that, in a typical (pop) mix, I tend to start with
a couple of reverbs dedicated to drums, and
another couple dedicated to vocals. I also
usually start with a third pair of overall
reverbs, for instruments and other mix elements. As with the drum and vocal verbs,
one has a smaller-room, ER-heavy setting,
and the other has a larger-room, later-reflection setting. In terms of Density and Diffusion,
these have somewhat more neutral settings,
somewhere between the tighter, shorter
sound of the drum verbs, and the looser,
more open, echo-y sound of the vocal verbs.
All of the tracks in the mix have multiple Sends that feed all of the reverbs,
though each track typically utilizes only
two or so at most. By balancing ER vs.
later reflections/reverb tail, I try to subtly
place each instrument/vocal in a threedimensional space in the mixlead vocal
and instruments up front, drums and backline to the rear, and other elements as
benefits the mix, song by song.
For pop/rock/R&B stuff, Id tend to
emphasize the ER components for most
instruments, saving the use of longer reverb
tails and larger spaces for certain elements
(like background vocals or a snare backbeat). This can still give the sense of a big,
ambient space with less likelihood of muddying up the mix. For typical rhythm section
instruments like guitars, electric pianos, and
synths, Id usually employ shorter room
reverbs with the emphasis on ERs. For something like an R&B horn section, I might go
for a tighter room or plate, with a bright
quality to bring out the brassiness of the
sound. Background vocals often get a larger room or hall with a longer tail, especially
wordless parts (oohs and aahs), which can
push them way back in the virtual
room/mixpanned wide in stereo, way in
the back of the virtual stage, vocal oohs and
ahhs with a nice rich, bright reverb tail can
fill up a lot of space in a chorus, for example, without stepping on other parts.
Sometimes, I have one additional

reverb with a general-purpose room setting, that I apply very lightly to all (or
most) of the tracks in an arrangement, just
to tie everything together. As I mentioned
earlier, this would be dialed up very subtly, so as not to interfere with the reverb
quality thats been sculpted for each element of the mix.
The modern mixers reverb toolbox
So far, Ive mainly been describing the
controls and use of the most traditional
type of (digital) reverb, an algorithmic
reverb, where the reverb is generated by
many individual digital delays, combined
by algorithms (formulas) into patterns
characteristic of different types of simulated real spaces and mechanical reverb
units. But there are other types of reverbs
in the modern mixers arsenal, including
Modeling reverbs and Convolution
reverbs. Lets take a brief look at those.
The very model of a room
Modeling is a technique for creating virtual instruments and effects that involves
analyzing the physical components of the
real thing, and then creating software models of all the elements that produce the
sound or effect. For example, a modeled
piano or guitar might simulate the vibrating
string, the interference of the bridge, the
resonance of the soundboard, etc.. The

tone of the modeled instrument or effect can
be tweaked by the user, as if he/she was
building it from scratch, putting all the components together for a unique sound. When
played, a modeled instrument would
respond like the real thing, with simulated
vibrations from one component causing
simulated resonance in another, etc.this
can provide a more natural sound and
response than other approaches.
Applied to reverb, the reverb designer
might analyze a real space (like, say, a live
chamber), and then write software code to
simulate the interaction of all the elements
of that space that give it its unique reverberant quality. This is similar to an algorithmic reverb in that the reverb simulation is
created from scratch via software, but a
modeled reverb would present different
controls to the user, based on the physical
components of the real room rather than
more general elements of simulated reverb.
So, instead of choosing a room type, a
user would have to specify functions like
size, shape, number of surfaces, angles
between the walls, curvature (like a
dome), etc.. Instead of LPFs for tone and a
simple Decay Time for length, the model
might call for the user to specify the material the walls are made of (stone, brick
plaster), and covered with (wood, foam,
carpet, drapes), etc.. These choices would
determine the behavior of the reverb

(decay time and tonal balance), just as
they do when constructing a real physical
space. Obviously, the user of a modeling
reverb must be a bit more familiar with the
actual physics of real spaces to be able to
tweak these controls purposefully, but in
return modeled spaces can often achieve
a greater degree of naturalness than all
but the best algorithmic verbs.
Convolve or die
Even more popular than modeling
reverbs nowadays are convolution reverbs.
Convolution reverbs are sampled reverbs.
The sound of a real space (like Carnegie
Hall or Studio B at Avatar, for example) is
captured as an audio recording, and used
to generate the reverb sound later on when
mixing. Besides providing samples of
famous real music spaces, as above, many
convolution reverbs come with software that
allows users to record their own spaces, as
well! Heres how the process works.
Just as with a live chamber, mics are set
up to record the reverberant sound of the
space. The sound of the rooms response to
all audible frequencies (20 Hz20 kHz)
must be recorded, so a signal is generated
at all frequencies. The most basic way to do
this is to generate a loud impulse, a burst of
noise that contains all frequencies, like a
gunshot (good), a balloon popping (less
good), or a loud click played through a fullrange speaker. Nowadays a 2020k sine
wave sweep is also commonly employed.
This is called an impulse, and the mics pick
up the rooms responsethe sound of that
room. The resultant recording of that rooms
sound is called an Impulse Response (IR).
Special software separates the original
sound from the rooms response, leaving the
IR to be used as the sound source in any
convolution reverb. When audio (drum
track, vocal track, whatever) is passed
through that convolution reverb plug-in, the
plug-in mathematically convolves (multiplies
sample-by-sample) the two signals (the track
and the IR recording). The result: the instrument or vocal sounds just as it would if it
were in the original room, based on the
position of the mics used to record the IR.
This technique can not only offer more
realistic reverb, but also more specific
reverbnot just a simulation of a concert
hall or room, say, but the actual sound of
a particular concert hall or room.
Artificial reverb has never sounded more
natural, but there are some trade-offs...
56
While reverb processors, in general,

have always been very demanding on CPU
resources, convolution reverbs are more
demanding than ever. This is not a big deal
with modern computers, but if a lot of different reverbs are employed in a big mix, it
might be a consideration. The other tradeoff
is that, since the reverb sound is that of a
real space rather than an artificially-generated one, there are fewer controls available
to tweak the reverb soundas a recording,
it is what it is. You can, of course, still apply
LPFs or EQs, or shorten the decay, but you
cant change the pattern of Early Reflections,
or the Density/Diffusionyou get whats in
the recording. If that doesnt work, you need
to start with a different IR, making it important to assemble a large collection of IRs for
flexibility in different mixes.
Some convolution reverb plug-ins do try
to offer more extensive controls through
additional processing, but youll still
want to maintain a nice supply of IRs
fortunately, IRs are just standard WAV or
AIF files, so they can usually be used in
any convolution reverb (subject only to
issues of copyright), and there are many
available free via various websites.
their reverb from plug-ins, which, thanks

to the increases in computer power over
the last ten years, are better than ever. In
no particular order, here are a few of the
most popular brands and specific reverb
plugs around. This is by no means a comprehensive list, just a representative sampling of some of the reverbs likely to be
found in studios these days.
While a lot of the most widely-used
reverb plug-ins are third-party, most DAWs
include at least one or two, and most are
of at least good quality. For example, Pro
Tools comes with two, the D-Verb and the
newer AIR Reverb (both traditional algorithmic reverbs). D-Verb has been around
forever, and, while not as rich-sounding as
some newer models, remains a useful
option, which doesnt put too much of a
hit on system resources. The AIR Reverb is
a bit more open-sounding, and additional
versions offer spring reverb simulation and
non-linear (gated) reverb effects. Avid also
offers a number of higher-end reverbs for
purchase, including a modeling reverb
(ReVibe II) and a convolution reverb (TL
Space, though this may not be AAX-compatible (yet?)).
When IRs are created, multiple recordings of the same room/space are often
made, with the microphones in various
positions (on stage, 10th row, back of
room, balcony, etc.). If someone were to
use the approach I like to, with different
reverbs for ERs, reverb tail, etc., having
these matched IRs is great. You could
place different tracks at different frontback distances by balancing between the
different IRs, for a really natural sense of
depth in the mix. I prefer convolution
reverbs for most mixing tasks nowadays.
I use Logic a lot, which has several

included reverbs, including PlatinumVerb
(a reasonably good algorithmic verb),
and, most notably, Space Designer, an
excellent convolution reverb which comes
with a comprehensive library of IRs.
On the third-party front, long-time plug-in
maker Waves offerings are a frequent
choice for reverb, with several models available. Their Renaissance Reverb has always
been a popular algorithmic reverb, known
for a warm sound that calls to mind some of
the classic hardware digital reverbs. The IR1
is Waves convolution reverb, and comes in
various flavors, including a flexible surround
version. Another convolution reverb thats
extremely popular is Audio Eases Altiverb.
Altiverb is the dean of convolution reverbs
it set the standard, and continues to be one
of the best out there, with a vast IR library
and many dedicated users. Somewhat
newer companies also offer high-quality
reverb models, like Overlouds BREVERB,
which has become quite popular over the
last several years.
Some of the companies that were known
for hardware digital reverbs now have
So many reverbs
Which brings me to the last section
what are some of the popular options for
reverb out there these days? Well, one
option thats always available is the real
thingusing room mics to capture the
sound of the recording space, or, if space
permits, setting up a remote live chamber
(as described in Part 1). Also in the analog
world, real plates and spring reverb units
can still be found, along with many hardware digital reverbs from the 80s and 90s.
But most people nowadays will get
But Lexicon is not the only company to emulate the classic hardware digital reverbs. Many other manufacturers do alsoone such
company is IK Multimedia, with its CSR (Classic Studio Reverb) bundle, a collection of emulated versions of classic reverbs like those
from Lexicon and others.
Most third-party reverb plug-ins and bundles range in cost
from around $200 to $500$600, but dont forget, there are
also many excellent-sounding free reverb plug-ins out there as
well, of all types. The dontcrack.com and kvraudio.com websites
maintain searchable databases of free plug-ins for those who
need good reverb on a budget.
software-based reverb products. For years, Lexicon was the studio standard in digital reverbtheir top-of-the-line models (like
the 480), their PCM series, and several lower-cost derivatives,
were found in every studio. These (algorithmic-style) reverbs had
their own signature Lexicon sound, warm and deep, and they
set the standard for digital reverb for many years. Currently,
Lexicon offers the sound of these classic hardware units in a series
of plug-in bundles (PCM/LPX/MPX) at various price points.
Wrap-up
With so many high-quality options for adding reverb available, any engineer/mixer or studio should be able to find whatever they need to add just the right ambience to recordings. But
remember, as with many aspects of recording and mixing, sometimes less is more. Even if you use multiple reverbs in a mix, if
you use them subtly and sparingly the end result will be much
better than if the mix is slathered with tons of reverb, no matter
how good-sounding that reverb is.
As with other effects, dont forget to occasionally bypass the
reverb, just to remind yourself what the mix sounds like on its
own. Reverb wont fix a mediocre mix, but it can take a good
one to the next level, ideally without calling too much attention
to itself.
I hope this article has offered some helpful suggestions and
information on the ins and outs of modern reverbnow crank up
those reverb sends and have some fun!
Joe Albano (albano@recordingmag.com) is an engineer/producer, musician, and educator living and working in New York City.
Learn more about his work at www.rooftopproductions.com.
PLUG-IN OUTLET
Universal Audio
Fairchild Tube Limiter Collection for UAD-2 and Apollo
By Paul Vnuk Jr.
In the history of compressors, the Big Three are
arguably the Teletronix LA-2A, the Universal Audio
1176, and the Fairchild 670.
The LA-2A and 1176 debuted in the middle and
late 1960s, respectively, and Universal Audio still
makes hardware reissues today. By contrast, the
Fairchild made its debut around 1958 and was discontinued by the time the others came into prominence. Fairchilds pro audio division does not exist
today; original vintage units are rare, expensive, and
highly temperamental (unless you have the right NOS
6383 tubes, which are rare and costly themselves).
Back in 2004, Universal Audio modeled the curves
and characteristics of Ocean Way Recordings golden
unit Fairchild, and created the Fairchild 670 plug-in for
the UAD-1 DSP engine platform.
Now, with a decades worth of advances in modeling
technology, UA has returned to that same Ocean Way
unit and modeled it again, down to the component level,
for the new Fairchild Tube Limiter Collection, to which this
time they have also added the mono Fairchild 660.
Meet the Fairchild
A real Fairchild 670 weighs 65 pounds and takes up
8 rack spaces, with 20 tubes and 14 transformers
behind its faceplate (often but not always anodized
the 660 modeled by Universal Audio was anodized
but the modeled 670 unit wasnt).
Back in the early 1960s, a new one cost about
$800, or the equivalent of about $6000 today.
Vintage ones now sell for between $35,000 to
$50,000 depending on condition. Even the third-party
spec-for-spec handmade recreations by ADL, Ear and
others will still set you back close to $15,000. This
makes Universal Audios price of $299 a bargain, as
long as you own a UAD-2 DSP card or enclosure, or
an Apollo DSP engine/audio interface.
Tube compression
Like most vintage compressors from the 1950s and
1960s, the 660/670 is a simple push-pull design with
minimal controls. Unlike the FET-based 1176 and the
optical circuit of the LA-2A, the Fairchild uses tubes not
only as amplifiers but also for its gain reduction. These
tubes are directly in the audio path without a separate
compression circuit. The commonly used term for this,
trademarked by Manley Laboratories, is Variable Mu
or Vari-Mu (Mu being a term for gain), but that term
was nowhere to be found in the original Fairchild literature.
The 660 and the 670 are laid out and function similarly, but some of their internal components and design
elements differ, resulting in both responsive and tonal
variation between the units. In the plug-in realm, while
the 660 appears as a mono GUI and the 670 is stereo,
both plug-ins can be used on mono or stereo sources.
58
Specs and controls

Each channel starts with a large VU meter followed by a large Input knob
that goes from to 0 dB in 2 dB steps on the 660 and 20 to 0 in 1 dB
steps on the 670. Next is a Threshold knob with a variable throw of 0 to
10. The last control is a 6-position Time Constraint knob that adjusts the
preset attack and release times.
Delivery: Web download

Format: UAD-2/Apollo platform; seen by DAW as VST, AU, or RTAS
plug-in, Mac OS X 10.6+ or Windows 7/8
Copy Protection: locked to UAD hardware, license added to user
account
License: single user/UAD
Documentation: PDF user manual available online
Price: $299; $149 for owners of legacy Fairchild plug-in
More from: Universal Audio, www.uaudio.com
These time constraints are:

1. 200 s attack / 300 ms release
2. 200 s attack / 800 ms release
3. 400 s attack / 2 second release
4. 800 s attack / 5 second release
5. 200 s attack / program dependent
release: 2 seconds for transients, 10 seconds for multiple peaks
6. 400 s attack / program dependent
release: 300 s for transients, 10 seconds for multiple peaks, and 25 seconds
for consistently high program level
According to the original manual the
unit can produce [a] full limiting effect
during the first 10,000ths of a second.
Only available on the 670 is a
Left/Right - Lat/Vert switch. This control
comes from the era of cutting vinyl and
refers to the height and width of the
grooves. In modern practical terms, it is
similar to what many mastering engineers
do with M/S processing where you can
compress the center frequency material differently from the outer/stereo material.
Below the VU meter is a pair of set
screws labeled HR for headroom, a plugin only feature, and Bal which balances
the bias current. This controls the additive
signal deflection or thud of the attack
and is perfectly calibrated at its 12
oclock position.
Modern day accoutrements
Below the standard control window is a
second rack panel which contains a few
more plug-in-only features: a Side-Chain
Filter (20 Hz to 500 Hz in 12 dB/octave
steps), Output/Makeup gain controls, and a
Mix knob allowing for parallel compression.
The DC Threshold control, originally
located on the rear of the unit, is the last
control on the plug-in. Turning this changes
both the compression ratio and knee. They
affect each other and work in tandem.
Between this knob and the Fairchilds
threshold the unit can achieve compression
ratios of 2:1 up to 30:1 limiting.
Just like the GUIs of the LA-2A and
1176 collections from UA that also were
updated in recent years, the new GUI
here is bigger, more 3-dimensional and
more detailed than the previous version... not to mention more beat-up and
vintage looking!
This new Fairchild Collection demands
slightly more CPU power than the new
1176 Collection, but not as much as the
LA-2A Collection. Compared to the original Legacy Fairchild plug-in (also included in the new collection) it takes about
three times as much juice.
You can get 7 mono and 6 stereo
instances on a UAD-2 SOLO card, 56
mono and 40 stereo on the newer OCTO
59
PLUG-IN OUTLET
cards. Apollo users should see 14 mono and 10
stereo, or 24 and 20, depending on if you have
a DUO or QUAD machine (naturally these numbers also apply to the DUO and QUAD UAD-2
cards).
Analogishness
I ran the new Fairchilds alongside the original
Legacy version, as well as against my hardware
compressors. When I review plug-ins that model
real hardware, whenever possible I like to do
side-by-side comparisons with the hardware.
Unfortunately, I do not own a real Fairchild,
although I am gladly accepting donations...
While the compression ratios and tones did not
match when I compared the Fairchild Collection
to various hardware units by Universal Audio,
Chandler Limited, Empirical Labs, dbx, Daking
and others, the one thing I did notice is that it
does a fantastic job emulating the airiness, harmonics and overall sonic feel of analog hardware.
Compared to the original Legacy version, this
new Fairchild collection is in a whole other sonic
league.The input and threshold are more detailed
with a better throw than on the Legacy version.
UA explains this as the older version having been
tuned to have maximum control over Threshold.
This was accomplished by juicing its gain by 15
dB over the hardware. This time around the 670
and 660 retain the 16 dBFS spec of the hardware. However, the unit can be adjusted with the
above-mentioned HR (headroom) set screw.
Sonics
Sonically the Fairchild 670 is hard to describe; its fast and grabby, but not
aggressive like an 1176; its smooth like an LA-2A, but weightier. It somehow
manages to be silky, yet open, bold and solid, and wide and opulent all at
the same time. It adds a definite tonal girth to the sound, but never sounds
mushy, pillowy or overcooked. All of this is probably why the original is so
revered. Compared to the 670, the 660 is a touch thicker, weightier and
more tonally imposing. Its like a big baseball bat of compressors.
The Legacy version was my go to plug-in compressor for almost ten years
on backing vocals, strings, orchestral work, synth pads and keys. I also used
it often on female lead vocals, drum overheads and the guitar buss for final
control and weight. In each instance the 670 improves on the original in
every way. For me, the biggest highlight is what it does on piano, both real
and sampled. The 670 seats it in the mix and, to use a tired phrase, makes it
sound like a record.
While it seems obvious, the 670 excels on stereo sources and bus work,
and the 660 is really a meat-and-potatoes workhorse for individual instruments, especially when they need fattening up without equalization. Sources
like bass guitar, toms, and kick drum all benefit from the 660s sound and control. Another great example is snare drum. If you want your snare to be tight
and aggressive with a forward sharp crack, you would use an 1176 or an
EL8 Distressor, but if you want that same snare to sound a bit more meaty in
a nice thick way, then its time for the 660.
On vocals it was a toss-up, in many instances I found the 660 too thick and
grabby for my taste, and I am more of an LA-2A kind of guy. On guitars the 670
is great for controlling and filling out anemic acoustic tracks, while the 660 is
great for electric guitar and can make the strings seem two inches thick.
Conclusion
Universal Audio is hitting it out of the park with these new upgraded collections that really have the analog vibe down. The Fairchild Collection nicely
updates the mega-popular original, and the 660 is a welcome addition.
With the Fairchild, unlike with the 1176 or LA-2A, I cant definitively say how
close they got to the hardware, but I will say that it really does not matter,
because this collection sounds so good and is so versatile, you wont care!
iZotope Nectar 2 Standard Edition and Production Suite

By Paul Vnuk Jr.
Nectar is iZotopes vocal-centric collection of processing tools. We looked at
Version 1 of Nectar a few years ago in our
March 2011 issue, and Mike Metlay
reviewed the entry-level Nectar Elements
version in our May 2013 issue. In this issue,
well focus primarily on whats new and
improved in the second version.
Nectar 2, like its predecessor, is a complete vocal suite. Just like the original, it is
not a collection or bundle of vocal-centered
plug-ins, but rather it is more like a vocal
workstation with up to eleven modulesa
hearty collection of vocal-specific effects
and processors in a single plug-in environment.
Nectar 2 is available in a Standard
Edition for $229, or a Production Suite for
$299. The difference is that the Breath
Control module and the Advanced Pitch
Correction layer of the original Pitch Module have
been broken out into separate standalone plugins, called Breath Control and Pitch Editor.
60
A new view in 2
Nectar 2s GUI is a complete redesign. It is bigger and more high-tech looking,
and more importantly, it uses better contrast and colors so it is easier to read and
adjust. Like the original Nectar, it has two

operation modes, Overview and Advanced.
The simple version, called Overview,
places all of the modules (minus the
Limiter) into one window. In this view each
modules controls are simplified for quick
and easy editing. Overview is a great
place to get your feet wet by scanning
through over 150 style-based presets
(Jazz, Pop, Hip Hop, Spoken Word, etc.)
and then fine-tuning them to taste. Just like
the original, auditioning vocal presets on
Nectar is akin to auditioning presets on a
synth, and can yield cool new ideas and
soup starters you may have never thought
of for keeping your vocal passages fresh.
The next level of complexity is found in
Advanced mode, which brings up a tab for
each of the eleven modules on the left, and
then fills the center screen with that modules parameters for tweaking. As a cool
new bonus, when using multiple instances
of Nectar 2 in a session, you can name
each instance with the name of the vocalist
or track it is being used on, so you always
know which one you are messing with.
Still goes to eleven
Like in Version 1, Nectar 2 comes with
eleven modules, and many are unchanged
except for the above-mentioned cosmetic
overhaul. The current list includes: Pitch,
Gate, Harmony, Saturation, Compressors,
EQ, De-Esser, Limiter, Delay, Reverb, and
FX.
FX is the only completely new module in
Nectar 2; it replaces the now-separate
Breath Control module. FX is a mini-suite of
seven distortion, modulation, and repeat
(delay) effects. To my ears, the coolest of
these new effects is Shred, kind of a hard
stutter effect.
The other noticeable change is that the
Doubler has been renamed Harmony.
While Doubler could indeed do simple 4part harmony tricks, Harmony adds scale
and key choice along with key calibration, pitch correction for the harmony
pitches, time and pitch variation, and
automatic key detection (for up to four
harmony voices) or MIDI control (which
lets you add up to 12 voices!). This is a
great addition to Nectar 2 and is the closest plug-in I have seen to TC Helicons
Harmony4 PowerCore plug-in, which
was discontinued years ago. The only
thing missing is formant voicing.
Other changes include the addition of
a Width control to the Delay, a completely redone EQ now with 8 available filters/bands, and 10 selectable filter types
including new Baxandall curves.
The Reverb in the original was functional, but in my work I rarely used it; it has
been replaced by a newly modeled EMT
140 Plate Reverb. I compared it to the
61
PLUG-IN OUTLET
plates in Lexicons PCM bundle and to Universal
Audios UAD-2 EMT 140 emulation. It lacks some
of the tweakability and decay times of those, but
sonically it holds its own nicely and really captures
the authenticity of the original hardware.
Other improvements include better metering,
including the ability to integrate iZotopes Insight
meter collection which we reviewed in our December
2013 holiday Gift Guide. Many of Nectar 2s models now include better and more intuitive tweaking,
improved high- and/or lowpass filtering, and more.
On their own
As mentioned above, if you get the Production Suite
version, you also get the Breath Control module, which
is used for automatically cutting out breaths between
spoken and sung phrases, and the Pitch Editor.
Functionally, Breath Control has not changed
from its module in Version 1 of Nectar, but due to
the extreme power it needs for look-ahead reading, it makes sense to run it separately to avoid
the enormous latency it creates. (It was left out of
Nectar Elements for similar reasons.) In my experience, Breath Control is better off being rendered
or track-frozen offline rather than run in real time,
so having it as a separate plug-in isnt a huge loss
in terms of workflow.
The Pitch Editor is also not new, but graphically the
original (which was buried in the Pitch module) was
cramped and hard to work with. It was so hard to
get at that I favored the advanced vocal tuning built
into Cubase, to which Id switched after years of
using Antares Auto-Tune. I expect that may change,
however, as in my initial tests Nectar 2s pitch correction is an aural improvement over both of them!
While you can still hear the obvious T-Pain effect
if you overstress the correction, what I am not hearing in Nectar 2 is the artifacts like the digital
popped intros of words or the sizzly digital ends of
sibilant notes that the other programs occasionally
produce. Also, the newly added vibrato for adding
a bit of life back into heavily corrected notes is
done quite well. This is some of the smoothest pitch
correction I have used, hands down.
Horsepower
As for CPU consumption, Nectar is a bit heavier
in load than many stand-alone compressors or
EQs. But Nectars load is not much different than
if you had pulled up similar standalone plug-ins
that do the same thing and chained them together.
Delivery: Web download

Formats: RTAS, AudioSuite, AAX, VST, VST3, Audio Unit
Requires: Windows XP SP3 (32-bit)/Vista/7/8; Mac OS X 10.6.8 or
later (Intel only)
Copy Protection: online authorized serial number, offline
challenge/response, or iLok USB key
License: single user/iLok
Documentation: Help button opens HTML manual in your web
browser; PDF Help Guide available for Web download
Price: Nectar 2 Standard Edition, $229; Nectar 2 Production Suite
(including Pitch Editor and Breath Control modules), $299
More from: iZotope, www.izotope.com.
Nectar 2 only draws power for the modules which are actually on and in
use, so it really is not bad in many applications. Overall I could get three
full-blown, every-process-on instances of Nectar 2 running on both my Mac
and PC (both quad-core i7 machine with 8 GB of RAM) at about a 50% load
in Cubase.
Conclusions
I do admit I am a bit of a Nectar fanboy, simply because it has been one
of my primary tools for video dialogue and podcast recording/mixing on a
weekly basis ever since I got to know it for my initial review three years ago.
It allows me to work quickly and intuitively without any sacrifice in quality.
Nectar 2 is a step up from the original in every way, well designed and
well thought out. The improvements and additions are fantastic, and I see
the program continuing as my main vocal sweetener for quite some time
to come.
U-He-Satin Tape Machine

By Paul Vnuk Jr.
U-He is a German software company, started by Urs Heckmann,
and known for its softsynths such as Zebra (still popular and having
just celebrated ten years on the market), Diva and ACE, as well as
modulation, filter, and time-based effect plug-ins such as the Uhbik
collection, Filterscape and MFM2. U-Hes newest creation, the companys take on tape-machine emulation, is called Satin.
62
U-He calls Satin a Tape Construction Kit, and in its development the same modeling methods were applied as during the creation of the analog modeling synth Diva
(reviewed September 2012), resulting in a virtual tape
machine of the companys own making rather than one that
would emulate/model an existing real tape machine.
Satin offers three modes of use: Studio,

Delay and Flange. Studio is the tape machine
mode, Delay simulates tape echo and tape
delay tricks of old, and Flange turns Satin into
a dual tape deck flanging unit.
Satin style
Satins interface does away with animated spinning tape reels, and makes no
attempt to look like a 3D model of a faux
tape machine. Instead, you get a plethora of vintage-flavored buttons and knobs,
a digital LED peak meter, and even a
large old-school VU meter.
Some tape plug-ins, like Slate Digitals VTM
(reviewed October 2012) are a minimal setit-and-forget-it affair, while others offer deeply
modeled service adjustments like Universal
Audios Ampex ATR-102 and Studer A800.
Satin is a bit of both; using it can be as
simple as choosing a modern or vintage
tape sound, pushing signal into the unit,
saturating the tape and then adjusting the
output volume appropriately, or it can be
deep and tweaky if thats your preference.
Satins interface is fully sizable, and
regardless of your DAW you choose how
much screen real estate it takes up. This is
one of those little features that I wish more
plug-in companies would incorporate.
The top of the screen
The interface screen is made up, top to
bottom, of three portions. Across the top
portion (that stays the same no matter which
of the three modes is active) you have the
large Input and Output knobs flanking the
centered metering window, plus, along the
very top, small controls or indicators for
Bypass, Save, Presets, Makeup, Tape Type
(Vintage or Modern), Metering In/Out,
RMS 0VU Ref., and Clipping.
The VU meter can not only display input
or output levels, it can also be set to Peak
or RMS, and it can be user-calibrated from
0 down to 24 dB. I tend to record and
mix with my levels around 12 dB to 18
dB, so I appreciated being able to adjust
Satins metering accordingly.
The center of the screen
This is where you choose and tweak the
above-mentioned modes. A knob on the left
offers a choice of tape speeds from 7.5 to 30
ips. As with real tape, changing the speed
affects the character of the highs and lows, as
well as the overall fidelity. It ranges from thin,
scooped, and squonky at 7.5 ips to full hi-fi
at 30 ips. Version 1.1, released just before
press time, lets you dial speed all the way
down to 1.87 ips (remember cassettes?).
~ Studio Mode: In this mode, there is a
knob labeled Pre-Emphasis (below the
tape-speed knob on the left) that, as per
!"#$!%&'()*+,-./-0)1234
56
U-He, allows for precise control over

transients, tone and fidelity. For more
detail you can download the manual
from www.u-he.com. In sonic terms PreEmphasis filters out the high end at low
settings and induces a loudness-style smiley EQ curve at high settings.
Like most tape plug-ins, multiple
instances of Satin can be grouped or
ganged so that changing a setting on one
instance effects all the others in that
group. In Satin you can create and name
up to eight different groups. This is handy
for operating Satin like a true multi-track

tape machine with instances on multiple
channels.
Possibly the most unique set of controls
in Studio mode is the Compander section
that has an Encoder, a Decoder and a
Mix knob. The Compander is a collection
of accurate models of the popular noise
reduction processes from tape machines
past, developed by Dolby and dbx. In
Satin they are called Type A, Type A
Modified, Type B, UHX Type I and UHX
Type II.
PLUG-IN OUTLET
You may be thinking, Noise reduction
sucked, just turn the tape hiss off! and, yes,
for modern fidelitys sake this is the best
option. However, it can be fun to use and
abuse the processes for an effect, vintage
realism, and even nostalgia. U-He claims
these models to be so accurate that if you
happen to have old tapes that were encoded with one of the above types, but your
current tape machine does not, you can
capture the tracks in your DAW, bypass the
tape setting in Satin and just run through the
Compander to decode them!
~ Delay Mode: Still in the center portion of
the screen, as you switch the mode to Delay
you get a 24 tap tape delay that can be set
to Multi-Mono, Cross or Ping Pong left or
right. It can be set in milliseconds or tempo
synchronized, and each tap has settings for
Time, Modulation Rate, Modulation Amount,
Balance (Pan) and Level. Global controls
include Mix, Feedback, a Limiter, and Low
and High cut filters.
~ Flange: Flange is the third mode available from the center portion of the Satin
screen. Flange is an effect created by running
the same signal on two parallel tape
machines and then manually varying the
speed of one (initially by simply putting a finger on a flange of one reel as a brake
Flat IEC 7.5 ips, IEC 15 ips, NAB and AES 30 ips. Version 1.1 adds an Auto-Mute that
silences Hiss and Asperity when no audio is runninggreat for multitracking with Satin.
A Headroom control allows you to increase or starve the headroom of the entire plugin for added effect, and lastly there is an overall frequency meter that gives a visual of
how your tweaks affect the overall sound. The Wow and Flutter feature surprised me; it
is pretty tame. It just can not get as freaky, lo-fi and wobbly as UAs Ampex ATR-102.
When I first saw this plug-ins modest price of $129, I asked

myself, Can a plug-in with this many features being sold this
cheaply sound any good? Now I can say, Absolutely!
hence the name flanging). This was a much
more distinctive and organic sound than
some modern flanger pedals or plug-ins.
The controls start with a large Manual slider which is akin to putting your finger on the
reel or capstan to manually create the flangy
woosh. You can automate this in your DAW,
or there is a MIDI sync-able Trigger button
that starts the fader moving from one side to
the other, producing the flange. Adjustable
Fade settings help smoothly bring the effect
in and determine how long the sweep will
last. A Range knob determines how many
milliseconds apart the two tape machines
are which controls the extremity of the effect.
There is a phase invert button as well. This
is the first true tape flange plug-in effect I
have ever tried, and pretty much worth the
cost of Satin all on its own.
The bottom of the screen
The Service Panel at the bottom is the place
where you can adjust Tape Hiss, Asperity (tape
anomalies and edge wear), Crosstalk, Wow &
Flutter as well as the Gap Width and Bump of
the repro head. Lastly you can choose your
recording and repro head EQ settings from
64
In use
When I first saw this plug-ins modest price of $129, I asked myself, Can a plugin with this many features being sold this cheaply sound any good? Now I can say,
Absolutely! For comparison, Satin is a tad more obvious than the Slate VTM with
a touch more character. I found it to be closer to UAs Studer A-800, but a hair more
dense and weighty. Of course, all of this is in the 1015% realm and I would not
hesitate to use any of them in my mixes.
A plug-in this powerful does require some CPU muscle. I was able to run 24
mono/12 stereo instances on my quad-core i7 PC with 8 GB of RAM in Cubase,
with no other plug-ins running, before topping out my CPU.
Wrap up
Beyond its affordable price and excellent sound, Satin nicely fills a void in the market by offering tape emulation without emulating a specific historical machine, but
sonically holding its own against those that do. Even if tape emulation is not your
thing, Satin is a great effects box as well.
Delivery: Digital download only
Format: VST/VST3 for Windows XP/Vista/7/8, VST/VST3 and AU for Mac
OS X 10.5+. U-He reports an AAX version is in beta right now.
Copy Protection: serial number
License: Single user/multiple computers
Documentation: PDF manual with download, also available online
Price: $129
More from: U-He, www.u-he.com
FEBRUARY 2014
The Great Debate at the 2012 TAXI Road Rally
Exclusive VS Non-Exclusive Music Libraries, Part Three

PANELISTS:
Tanvi Patel CEO/Partner, Crucial Music Corporation, taking the non-exclusive side of
the debate.
Adam Weitz V.P. of Film/TV Music at TAXI
(at the time of the debate), playing the
role of someone who would be on the
exclusive side of the debate.
Michael Laskow (left) and Tanvi Patel (center) pay close attention to Adam Weitz (right) as he makes a point during a very heated
and educational debate.
Moderator: Michael Laskow CEO of
TAXI, acting as a neutral party to facilitate
thats an administration issue for me. So, you
the debate.
Tanvi: I wanted to comment on something

else from the non-exclusives point of view
and why we believe in the model so much.
You know, our contracts are made for three
years and theres a reason why. It takes a
long time to get your music out there and in
front of people and pitching and the quantity
of pitches to get you a placement. You know,
Ive signed tracks and within a week placed
them from when theyve been up on the site.
But then Ive signed tracks that have taken
three years to be placed. And I personally
dont believe its right for me to, at this point
in time, given everything else Im up
againstyou know what things are working
for us and what arentto tie up your copyrights exclusively for three years. To have all
your eggs in my basket, that scares the crap
out of me because all of a sudden Im going
to get even more emails like, What have you
done for me lately? kind of thing.
A lot of the exclusive companies are one-year
deals. Which, from your point of view is,
Yeah, I can do it in one year, OK, no problem. One year, I can live with that. You
might not get a placement in a year and then
youre gonna be knocking on that persons
door to cancel your contract. From a
business point of view, if I implemented that,
I would be losing copyrights every year and
know, thats the thing. I believe that the artist

should have OK, if youre a financial advisor and you have, youre investing on peoples
behalf, would you put all your clients money
in Apple? I mean, would you do that?
Well maybe just that one stock. [laughter]
Tanvi: Or would you have a balanced portfolio so that you can be making money in
various areas? I personally invest in different
companies and mutual funds and real estate
and you know, that sort of thing. Thats how I
would want to do it. So that Im not dependent on my income from just one sole person.
Thats how I feel about a non-exclusive. Its
like, I want to give you guys [in the audience]
the ability to make as much money as you can
and its also based on the strength of the rep
that youre working with. Sure, there might
be three people that are pitching the song
Or have a song available. Theyre not all pitching. Thats the one thing
Tanvi: They might have the song available.
Theyre not all pitching the song within their
catalog because they have 100,000 songs. I
have 8,000. I know every song in my catalog.
And if a pitch comes to us, Im gonna pitch
that song. You know, so theres also that.
Adam: Isnt that more sort of how an exclusive library would be? So, instead sort of
dumping a hard drive on somebodys desk,
an exclusive library would be a little more
proactive in securing those deals.
Tanvi: There are many exclusive libraries
that dump hard drives on peoples desks.
Adam: I have a question. What happens if
one of your non-exclusive songs turns out to
be a huge hit and the artist is approached by
a major publisher?
Tanvi: Then we work with the artist. Well
let them out. Theres got to be money on the
table. Im not going to stand in the way of
somebodys career, you know. [applause] But
Im also not going to have you come to me
and say, I wanna be in Jingle Punks catalog
exclusively. Can you please let me out of your
deal? before the term is over. Im also not
going to do that.
Wasnt the original concept behind a non-exclusive deal created so that these guys [points to
audience members] could put their music in a
catalog to be repped for film and TV, but at the
same time, still own their copyright so they
could put it on CD Baby or license the song to
Celine Dion And I think what happened was
somebody went, Wow, I can put my music in
Continued on page 66
65
Continued from page 65

five catalogs and spread my bets. Now Ive got
five companies repping my song. Human greed
or maybe good business sense, Im not sure what
you want to call it, but if I can five people repping my stuff, thats potentially five times
better than one. And then it just got out of
hand.
Adam: Yeah, and then the artist calls the
music supervisor and says, Who did [you]
get this from? I heard it on the show and
never got paid and the music supervisor
It takes a long time to get your music

out there and in front of people, and
pitching and the quantity of pitches
to get you a placement.
Tanvi Patel
says, Please, you know, I just got 30 calls like
this this week, please stop calling me. We
know that that happens quite often.
Tanvi: It does. Theres some responsibility
on you as a composer, as well. You know, if
you hear your song, you reach out. Dont go
to the network. Thats the last thing They
dont want to take your call. They sure
enough dont want to think that youre going
to sue them. But if youre in five non-exclusive catalogs, reach out to your
non-exclusives and find out. Now, I know a
lot of them dont tell you when youre getting
used and you dont find out until six months
later when you look at your royalty
statement. But thats a responsibility you
have to take on and say, well, my stuff is out
there, its gonna get used, Ill eventually get
paid for it. I dont need to freak out who used
this, who didnt use this.
Adam: What about the situation where a
library might have a blanket deal with a company and theres no back-end? For example,
like your song is on
Tanvi: ESPN?
Adam: Yeah, or DVD extras or something,
and you dont see, as an artist you wouldnt
see
Tanvi: There have never been any mechanicals for DVDs, ever in the United States.
Adam: But it could happen under a nonexclusive basis in that regard, that your music
could actually be used for something and
youd never get paid for the use.
66
Tanvi: No. Unless that supplier is into not

making any money, doesnt want to make any
money and give away stuff for free.
Adam: Well, say the supplier has a blanket
deal with like Sony, OK, and Sony makes a
DVD and uses DVD extras and uses one of
the artists songs. Its possible that the artist
might not ever get paid for that, right?
Tanvi: Uhhh if its in the agreement that
says, Im not going to pay you for blanket
payments. Yeah and thats a horrible contract. But that can happen in an exclusive or
non-exclusive deal.
Im going to come out into the audience because
I saw some hands go up and weve really got like
six or seven more minutes. Somebody right
around here.
Audience member: What about digital
cue sheets? I mean, wouldnt that help to
solve a lot of the issue with
Tanvi: Fingerprinting is a fabulous use for
digital cue sheets. Thats correct. Theres a
company called Sound Mouse that has done
contracts with a few of the networks and
what happens is, is you as a supplier provide
your entire catalog to Sound Mouse and then
all the data is available digitally and what
they do is they, all the network has to do is
supply the soundtrack for all the broadcast to
Sound Mouse and then they match up digitally and input all the cue sheets are accurate.
Again, the dirty audio is an issue. So, obviously Sound Mouse has spent some money
and they have people to listen to where
theres a discrepancy, they listen and work it
out. That is one of the things that the PROs
mentioned to me. Thats where they see the
fingerprinting being the most beneficial is for
accurate cue sheets.
Audience member: There seems to be
some libraries that are switching over to
exclusive that arent paying anything upfront
for those tracks to switch them over. Is it
because theyre not taking the copyright or
Tanvi: Correct. You keep your copyright.
Youre still keeping your copyright, its just
that you cant have your copyright elsewhere.
Adam: But, in my opinion, they might as
well have it. Its kind of like leasing your
house forever to somebody. They basically
own your house.
Audience member: Thank you much. Ive

really enjoyed this. It seems as a consensus
that there should be a balance between exclusive and non-exclusive deals for us
composers. Can you give us some percentage
figure, like how much of your work, Tanvi, do
you get approached for exclusive deals? What
should we look at as composers? Should we
keep our best pieces for exclusive deals? Or
vice versa? Or how should we divide up our
portfolios?
Tanvi: OK, let me give an example of when
somebody comes to me and says, Well, what
other companies should I work with? And I
say, Well, why do you look at the strength of
the company, the non-exclusives that youre
working with currently, find those other nonexclusives that fill the weaknesses of my
company. So, for example, at this moment in
time, I dont have any blanket deals and I
havent for a long time. There are reasons
why, but I dont. You could go to somebody
like Jingle Punks or somebody like
Getty/Pump Audio, and give them tracks as
well and they will cover that market for you.
So, heres what I would suggest. You know,
youre a composer, you have a large supply of
tracks and at least I feel that way when I get
multiple submissions over and over again.
But what you can do, whether you want to
give your best tracks to an exclusive vs. nonexclusive, well I dont know about that. But,
try it. Try some tracks in an exclusive catalog
and then, you know, keep those exclusive.
And then try some of your other tracks in a
non-exclusive and see which works out better
for you after a year, or two years, just depending. Thats a decision you need to make. But
you also need to look at those what exclusive
companies How are they managing What
type of clients do they have? How much
money are they giving you upfront? Meaning
the sync percentage, not necessarily paying
you upfront [buyouts] for the catalog, but are
you getting any percentage of sync, and then
see how it goes. Ive got guys who are with
Pump Audio and theyre making decent
money and theyve got the same tracks with
me, and they make decent money with me
and
Adam: So, why would I license that track
from you when I could get it on Pump Audio
cheaper, hypothetically?
Tanvi: Well, it all has to do with the
relationships. I dont know that many music
Continued on page 69
68
Continued from page 66

supervisors that actually to like to use Pump
Audio. The independent music supervisors
that get placements. Its a matter of their
client base. So, Pump Audio is really good at
Internet uses, small corporate uses, small
What happens if one of your nonexclusive songs turns out to be a huge

hit and the artist is approached by a
major publisher?
Adam Weitz
Audience member: On that note, thank

you both for a great talk. What are they giving? Are they literally saying, give me your
music for free?
Adam: I think theyre doing their own Crucial [style] retitling.
Adam: Yes.
Yeah, but it might migrate to exclusive when

they feel they have enough power and enough
clout. Who knows? Its impossible to know. But,
we could sit here and debate this all day, but I
must say you guys have done an amazingly fair
job of presenting both sides of this argument.
[applause] And with that, Ive got to kick you
off stage because we have to get the next
panel started. Thank you very much, Tanvi
Patel and Adam Weitz! [applause]
Audience member: So, theyre taking

100% of the publishing?
Adam: Youre getting the writers share
and thats it.
Tanvi: Are they putting any sort of identifier like, CBS track title? Or are they just
taking the copyright?
Tanvi: OK, so, its a non-exclusive.
agency uses, online space for ads. You wont

believe Coke will only have two grand for an
Internet spot. I mean, thats what it comes
down to. So, its a matter of being able to
cover your bases. Theyre not working the
same clients I am. Im not working their
clients. Theyre not working mine. They
might try. The supervisor might not like
them.
Adams smiling a lot. [laughter]
Tanvi: Hes doing a good job, dont you
think? [applause]
Adam: Im really neutral. Im really neutral. Im Switzerland!
Yeah, our job at TAXI is to look out for our
members best interest. So this is a daily battle
for us. We get calls every day and we have to
sit there for a half an hour and ask, do we run
this listing or not? And in the end, it comes
down to Would most of our members want us
to? And if we just cant settle that between
the two of us, then well ask our members
online. I dont know anything more that we
can do.
Adam: What frightens me is what happens
if every single network builds its own catalog
and takes all the publishing without spending a dime? To me, thats almost, in a way, a
form of theft because you now own a piece
of my property but you never paid me for it.
In a way its kind of like payola, because now
they get something out of it because I know
theyre gonna use it. And that to me
And what do we do as TAXI? Do we say sorry
NBC, CBS, and ABC, no, were not gonna run
those listings for you because we think thats a
form of theft when half of our members would
want to do that deal and if we dont run that
listing, theyll go somewhere else and a find a
way to get that deal. Its impossible is what it is!
69
By submitting a Readers Tapes entry you automatically grant permission to Music Maker Publications to feature your submission here,
on our website, and in our SPOTLIGHT e-newsletter. We might need to
shorten entries for editorial reasons. By listing your name with the submitted work, MMP does not imply any assignment of rights to the submitted work. We can neither guarantee publication of a review nor
engage in correspondence about individual submissions.
Media can be submitted physically (as in an actual recording
through the mail) or online at our website. For online submissions,
please go to www.recordingmag.com and click on Readers Tapes,
then select Submit Your Recording and fill in the requested information. We accept MP3 and AAC files of up to 5 MB size. File bitrate is
up to you but we strongly recommend a minimum of 128 kbps; note
that the higher the bitrate, the shorter the song that will fit in the 5 MB
limit. Youre free to submit an excerpt of a longer song if that helps!
Send physical submissions to: Readers Tapes c/o Recording
Magazine, 5408 Idylwild Trail, Boulder, CO 80301. Please be sure to
include: a) a CD, CD-R, cassette, DAT, or MiniDisc with only one
song preferably no longer than 3:30 in length (or tell us which track
you want reviewed); b) a credit list (who did what); c) a list of
equipment used. Remember that CD-Rs with unevenly applied
paper labels, smudges, or scratches wont play back reliably.
PLEASE state which part of your contact info we can publish
(address, phone, and/or email)if you dont tell us precisely, we
will publish the email address that came with your submission.
Ryan Nadon
Equipment: Windows 7 64bit PC with M-Audio Profire 610 interface running Cakewalk SONAR X2 with Celemony Melodyne, IK
Multimedia AmpliTube 3 (rhythm guitar) and Native
Instruments Guitar Rig Pro 5 (bass) and Kontakt 5 / Steven Slate
Drums 3.5. Mackie Big Knob monitor controller, M-Audio BX8a
monitors. Mics: Shure SM58 (vocals), Studio Projects condenser
(ac. guitar). Primacoustic Voxguard vocal enclosure. Jackson
Soloist through Behringer V-AMP Pro for lead guitars, ESP LTD
EC-1000 and a PRS Mark Tremonti with Zakk Wylde EMG pickups used for rhythm guitars. Cort acoustic guitar, Ibanez bass.
Music: Be Somebody Else is a male vocal rock song.

Ryan did it all with the exception of the vocals, which
were sung by Lauren Mackenzie.
Recording: Big anthemic rock tracks seem to span generations, from Bon Jovi to the Kings of Leon, and Ryans
submission has all of the ingredients necessary to compete with these big boys. The first thing required is a
well-written track with a strong hook, and Be Somebody
Else is certainly that. The majority of the music bed is
equally strong, with perfectly compressed/ distorted guitars (via AmpliTube) delivering a wall of sound.
We also dug Laurens gritty lead vocals, sung dry through
a standard issue Shure SM58 dynamic mic. Legend has it
that both Mick Jagger and Elvis Costello were fans of the
SM58 in the studio, and its ability to handle powerful voices like Laurens make it an excellent choice here.
If there was a negative to be found with Ryans submission, it would be with the drums. While the programming was capable for the most part, there were some
level issues with the tom fills at times. We also felt that
the snare drum tone was a bit on the plastic side
through our monitors. The Steven Slate Drums 3.5 plugin that Ryan used is one of the best in the business, and
a bigger, deeper snare drum sound would have been a
better fit for the size of the track in our opinion.
70
Suggestions: Ryan has done an excellent job overall here.

The tracking and mixing are free of artifact/heavy limiting
that often spoils many of todays rock recordings, major label
releases included. As for the drums, its very rare that we
hear programmed drums compete with a good live player in
terms of feel. Hey, its their job, you know!
Our suggestion to Ryan is that he consider teaming up
with a top notch drummer in his area, or take advantage of
the many pro players who offer their services long-distance.
Computer-based recording and the Internet has made it possible to connect with all types of monster players, many with
gold/platinum credits, who will lay down parts on a track,
often for much less coin than one would think. Both Ryan
and Lauren are serious talents; with a pro drummer Be
Somebody Else would be headed to our Spotlight feature.
Summary: Good stuff!
Contact: Ryan Nadon, rn1111@gmail.com
Steve Bonaccorsi
Equipment: PCAudioLabs custom PC with M-Audio FireWire 410
interface and M-Audio Keystation Pro 88 MIDI keyboard, running Digidesign Pro Tools M-Powered Version 7 and MOTU
Symphonic Instrument plug-in. Mackie MR5 Studio Monitors,
Audio-Technica ATH-M50 Headphones, RDE NT1-A mic (vocals).
Fender Stratocaster 70s version, Takamine EF341C acoustic guitar,
BOSS GT-10 guitar processor, Yamaha PSR550 keyboard.
Music: Cooper Street is a male vocal rock song. Steve

did it all in his home studio.
Recording: This is Steves second appearance in Readers
Tapes, the first one being back in July of 2007. At the time
Steve had relayed that he was an old guy just getting back
into recording after a long absence. So what has changed with
Steve 2.0? Well, track count and arrangement skills for a start!
Cooper Street is a full 24-track project, the core drum
beat and opening train effect were played manually on a
Yamaha PSR550 keyboard. It also has 5 tracks of guitar, 3
tracks of lead main vocal, 4 tracks of oohs & harmony in
the interlude sections supported by choir vocals from a
MIDI keyboard, along with 9 MIDI orchestration tracks via
MOTUs Symphonic Instrument plug-in. Well, Steve, it looks
like youve been making up for lost time!
As for the individual sound sources, the results are a bit of
a mixed bag. To our ears the strength of the track is the vocals
(and the lyrics, a heartfelt tribute to his dad) along with the
string arrangement, which add a nice Moody Blues vibe to the
proceedings. Less to our liking were the acoustic guitar tones,
along with the mushy low-end bass/drum sound.
Suggestions: Steve has come a long way with his recording
chops since 2007 and were mighty pleased to find him still at
it. As for suggestions, the tone of the acoustic guitar would indicate that it was tracked using the instruments onboard pickup.
While this can sometimes be effective as a supplemental technique, it will never replace the sound of a miked-up acoustic in
our opinion. Combining the pickup with the RDE NT1-A condenser mic would almost certainly yield superior results.
Regarding the bottom-end sounds, clarity and frequency
management are vital regardless of what sound sources come
into play. We encourage Steve to define what he wants the
drum/bass relationship to be, and then find a good solid
voice for each sound.
Summary: Welcome back, Steve!
Contact: Steve Bonaccorsi, stephen.bonaccorsi@comcast.net
COMPANY
PAGE
Acoustica
ADK Microphones
AEA
AKG Acoustics GmbH
API
Apogee
ASCAP
Audio-Technica
Audix Corporation
B&H Audio
Blue Microphones
CharterOak
ClearSonic
Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences
DPA Microphones
Drawmer/TransAudio Group
Earthworks
Grace Design
IsoAcoustics
KRK Systems
Lauten Audio/Audio Plus Services
Lewitt
MasterWriter
Millennia Music & Media Systems
Mojave Audio
MusicUnited.com
Pearlman Microphones
PreSonus
Prism Sound
Radial Engineering/Primacoustic
RealTraps
RDE Microphones
Royer Ribbons
Samson
Shure
Stedman
Steinberg
Sweetwater
Sweetwater/MOTU
TAXI A&R Insider
Telefunken
Vintage King Audio
11
53
21
31
9
OBC
37
15
IBC
67
5
57
61
35
43
45
13
69
42
25
41
39
47
55
51
63
61
23
29
1819, 27
57
17
48
1
7
59
IFC
23
7677
6569
59
3233, 49
PHONE
800-947-9918
800-888-6360
888-604-4075
800-663-9352
530-647-0750
604-942-1001
866-732-5872
818-847-0121
800-222-4700
800-222-4700
800-458-2111
860-882-5919
888-653-1184
WEB ADDRESS
www.acoustica.com
www.frontendaudio.com
www.ribbonmics.com
www.akg.com
www.APIaudio.com
www.apogeedigital.com
www.ascap100.com
www.audio-technica.com
www.audixusa.com
www.bandh.com
www.bluemic.com
www.coproaudio.com
www.clearsonic.com
www.cras.edu
www.dpamicrophones.com
www.transaudiogroup.com/drawmer
www.earthworksaudio.com/521
www.gracedesign.com
www.isoacoustics.com
www.krksys.com
www.audioplusservices.com
www.lewitt-audio.com
www.MasterWriter.com
www.mil-media.com
www.mojaveaudio.com
www.musicunited.com
www.pearlmanmicrophones.com
www.presonus.com
www.prismsound.com
www.radialeng.com
www.realtraps.com
www.rodemic.com/nt1
www.royerlabs.com
www.samsontech.com
www.shure.com/americas
www.stedmancorp.com
www.steinberg.net
www.sweetwater.com
www.sweetwater.com
www.taxi.com
www.t-funk.com
www.vintageking.com
CLASS IFIE DS / MARKE TPLACE
Visit
www.recordingmag.com
72
RECORDING FEBRUARY 2014
CLAS SIFIE DS / MARKE TPLACE
73
74
CLASS IFIE DS / MARKE TPLACE
Only Free Notices ads are free

use this space to further your
career, make contacts, announce
your demo, website (non-commercial) etc. Free Notices ads (25
words or lesswe reserve the
right to shorten longer entries)
are restricted to items where no
money changes hands.
No phone calls please for Free
Notices ads. Fax 303-516-9119
or email: bb@recordingmag.com
For sales and services, use the
paid categories:
Commercial Web Sites
Duplication
For Sale
Miscellaneous
Services
Wanted
For details call 303-516-9118
or email:
classifieds@recordingmag.com
FREE NOTICES
If truth is the most powerful mind-altering substance then new home recording
Reality Series Joe Fresh Out Da Penitentiary delivers a lethal dose. Like Joe on
FB@Fans of Joe Fresh and subscribe
YouTube@JoeFreshOutDaPen and
http://www.joefreshout.com/
Listen to free samples from our new release

Pocket Full of Change at
www.expenserocks.com
We at long beach city college would like to
offer free music videos to artists in the long
beach, ca area.Write to
lbccmvp@gmail.com for more info or
facebook.com/lbccmvp
Family band, The Fulcos, are now seeking a successful management/production
team. Music style Beatlesque/Queenish.
www.meetingthefulcos.com
Country Singer/Songwriter Walter Weyburn

Available on Youtube or join his growing
fanbase on facebook.
www.walterweyburn.webs.com
Eric Bolvin; composer, horn arranger, producer and teacher. Lots of free music,
charts and videos. www.BolvinMusic.com
Songwriter with WOW MATERIAL suitable for Michael Bubl,Tony Orlando and
Marie Osmond looking for agent with contacts. GREAT FINDERS FEE. Call Phil
609-588-0282
17 year old singer/songwriting Kerry
DAzevedo! Available on iTunes or join
her growing fan base on Facebook.
CHARLTON METCALF, SONGWRITER
for all genres. An original song just for
you. myspace.com/charltontmetcalf,
|charltonsongs@gmail.com
Please Recycle your CDs and DVDs
Does your studio generate much CD and
DVD waste? We recycle your discs for
free. Please Go Green!
Learn how at www.cdrecyclingcenter.org
This is Improv at its best.
Singer/Songwriter/Bandleader looking for
serious manager/agent.
www.myspace.com/andycliftonandcompany
has material and info.
andycliftonband@hotmail.com
John Shaughnessy writes and records
songs that cross genres, with hooks aimed
at the part of your brain where unforgettable songs get stuck. Listen at
www.johnshaughnessy.com
We are looking for rappers & singers and
songwriters and producers please send
your song to myspace.com/mikecapone
contact:mamericanhustle@aol.com
Singer Singwriter and Producer with diverse style of music available for soundtrack work. Project management capable.
www.myspace.com/trig
Songs and Bio posted.
Contact: trigband@yahoo.com
MUSICIANS Seeking Expert Keyboardist, Guitarist, Singers, etc. for NEW

BAND. ORIGINAL MUSIC: Jazz/Pop.
Some Covers. Serious. Arranging and Improvising a Plus. Great Opportunity.
(480) 370-2184.
CSMUZIK777@YAHOO.COM.
Hear Chris Williams music for film, tv, and
advertising. Great music for any media projects that you may have. I own 100% of all
rights so it is a one stop shop to me for all licensing requests.Visit
https://www.box.com/shared/ig1p71sxci to
download and listen or www.cwiz.info
The Center for Hearing & Dizziness is a
Improvised (Impoprivised) Band we
Improvise new sounds to old movies. See
videos at www.youtube.com/user/cfhd or
www.youtube.com/user/pjcdrummer.
SERVICES
Great sounding professional
drum tracks, custom designed for
your music, delivered quickly,
affordable rates!
www.rodneyballard.com
MIXYOURSONGS.COM
Broadcast quality mixes of your songs
by professional engineers.
REALDRUMSTUDIO.COM
Master Quality Drum Tracks by professional studio drummer and audio
engineer. Great sounding room!
Call Pat Bautz 888-755-6957
www.saxtracksonline.com
Professional Saxophone Tracks
Andy 818-378-8007
drumoverdubs.com
Custom drum tracks recorded live to
your songs by professional studio
drummer Brian McRae.
Killer Real Drum Tracks
from Chet McCracken. Send or bring
me your songs. All formats and affordable! For credits, rates, equipment and
info call Chet: 818-888-6687
Email: ddrruumm@aol.com
Web: www.chetmccracken.com
75
CLAS SIFIE DS / MARKE TPLACE
My sound? BOB DYLAN meets TOM

PETTY, ERIC ANDERSEN, and WEIRD AL
-- in CHURCH. http://www.lexzaleta.com/
Please visit www.johnlewitt.com to download this Canadian singer/songwriters latest collection for FREE.
Annual
Features
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
78
Index 2013
2012 AES Convention Report

Monitors & Monitoring: a crash course
Getting Into Your Head: all about headphone amps
Big Money DrumsPart 1
Stereo From A Mono Mic
Plug-in Performance on Windows-based DAWs
The Mixing Workshop: Better Mixes Through Creative
EditingPart 2 (The Band)
2013 Winter NAMM Show Report
Nimbit and Self-Promotion: one composers report
SongwritingThe Money Angle
How To Record Great Vocals At Home
Plug-ins To The RescueReal-Life Remedies for Vocal
Tracks
SXSW 2013From Guerilla To Gorilla
Finding Fault: troubleshooting and optimizing your
audio PC
Mock-Up Magic: building convincing tracks with
virtual instruments
A Guitar Miking Primer, Part 1: Electric Guitars
Nine (off the wall) Guitar Recording Ideas
Recording the Gig: tips for field recording from the
stage
Recording the Band: converting your house into an
all-in tracking studio
A Guitar Miking Primer, Part 2: Acoustic Guitars
MIDIHappy 30th Birthday!
DIY: Keepin My Beats CoolRepairing an E-MU
SP1200
Special Report: AES Nashville Recording
Workshop+Expo 2013
Better Sounds from Tight Spots: tips and tricks for the
producer
DIY: Fix Your CablesSave Your Money
Stop Sound Leakage!
DIY: Build Acoustic Treatment Right Into Your Walls
From Shed to Studio: turning a back yard shed into a
tracking/mixing space
Live In The Studio: capture a bands live energy in
the tracking room
The Mixing Workshop: Spectral Balancing
From Room to Studio: a veteran engineer builds a
dream room at home
How To Edit: Applying tape-editing principles to
working with your DAW
WriteRecordReleaseROCK!: an album from
concept to promotion
The Windup... And The Pitch: pitching your music in
ways that actually work
Songwriters Intervention: breaking bad habits and
using the right tools
Be Ready!: preproduction as the key to tracking and
mixing success
2013 Annual Gift Guide
Taming The Low Frequencies: Helmholtz Resonators
vs. Bass Traps in small rooms
Interviews
Feb Clare Fischers Ritmo!: Brent Fischer, Matt Brownlie, Rafa Sardina
Miking DeVotchKa with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra: Mike Pappas,
Jason LaRocca, Nick Urata, and Charles Denler
Apr Write Not Just Any Song, But A HIT Song! Q & A with Robin Frederick
May Jim Anderson records Patricia Barbers Smash and Modern Cool
Jul Mick Conley on recording Marty Stuarts guitars
Aug Steve Avedis on home-recording Jerome Gilmers piano album
Remember Well
Sep Peter Chaikin of JBL on the History and Mystery of Monitoring
Oct 20 Questions on Mics and Miking with Shures John Born
Talking Acoustics with Peter DAntonio of RPG Diffusor Systems
Nov Kristian Bush of Sugarland on songwriting, creativity, and communitybuilding
Dec Remixing Depeche Modes Should Be Higher: Eric Alexandrakis, Anthony
J. Resta, and Paul David Hager
Columns
Recording Fundamentals
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Chapter 13: MonitorsPart 2: the influence of history and speaker design

Chapter 14: Sweet Spot ConundrumsPart 1: ergonomics and logistics
Chapter 15: Sweet Spot ConundrumsPart 2: room acoustic problems
Chapter 16: Sweet Spot ConundrumsPart 3: low end and diffusion
Chapter 17: Sweet Spot ConundrumsPart 4: nine solutions to common issues
Chapter 18: HeadphonesPart 1: when and when not to use them
Chapter 19: HeadphonesPart 2: features and choosing the right pair
Chapter 20: EqualizationPart 1: the basics of EQ and equalizers
Chapter 21: EqualizationPart 2: EQ workflow, myths, tips and tricks
Chapter 22: CompressionPart 1: what is compression?
Chapter 23: CompressionPart 2: compressors and how they work
Chapter 24: CompressionPart 3: the Loudness Wars
Fade Out
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Music Apps: When The Prevailing Wisdom Is Stupid, by Mike Metlay

Mastered For iTunes: High-Resolution Audio?, by Ethan Winer
The Mac As Disposable Appliance, by Mike Metlay
Is It Possible To Record A High-Quality Product At Home?, by James Cruz
Marrying For Love, by Mike Metlay
A Compression Story, by Scott Dorsey
The Acoustic Guitar Recording Legacy Of Richard Rosmini, by Wes Dooley
Thank Ma Bell, by Scott Dorsey
Sun StudiosThen And Now, by Scott Dorsey
The Song Is Still The Thing, by Sven-Erik Seaholm
Is Quitting Your Day Job Really The Point?, by John McVey
Reviews
(* indicates items Reviewed & Revisited)
Microphones
Jan Lauten Atlantis FC-387 Condenser Mic

Feb AKG D12VR Active Kick Mic
Shure KSM9HS Handheld Condenser Mic
Audio-Technica AT4047MP Condenser Mic
DPA Microphones Reference Standard Mics
Lewitt DTP 640 REX Dual-Element Kick Mic
Mar MXL CR30 Large-Diaphragm Condenser Mic
Apr Royer SF-2 Active Ribbon Mic
May Lewitt Authentica LCT 940 Solid-State/Tube Mic
Audio-Technica AT5040 Vocal Condenser Mic
DPA Microphones d:fine Headset Mics
Jul Sontronics Halo Guitar Cabinet Mic
Aug Ear Trumpet Labs Edwina Condenser Mic
Sep Ashman Acoustics SOM50 Condenser Mic
Oct AEA R88mk2 Stereo Ribbon Mic
Nov DPA Microphones d:facto II Handheld Condenser Mic
Dec Bock Audio IFET Condenser Mic
Blue Nessie USB Mic
Icon M3 Condenser Mic
Signal Processors / Effects Hardware
Computer Software and Plug-ins (including Plug-In Outlet)
Jan
Feb Sony Creative Software Sound Forge Pro Mac

Mar 2C Audio B2 reverb
Universal Audio Precision K-Stereo and Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor
for UAD-2/Apollo
Acoustica Mixcraft 6*
Massey Plugins CT5 Compressor
Kush Audio Clariphonic DSP Equalizer
Eventide H3000 Factory
iZotope Alloy 2*
PSP Audioware PSP BussPressor
May Toontrack EZmix Pack: Vocal Toolbox
iZotope Nectar Elements
Noveltech Vocal Enhancer and Character
Jun Ableton Live 9*
Universal Audio Teletronix LA-2A Classic Leveler Collection for
UAD-2/Apollo
Steinberg Cubase 7*
MOTU Digital Performer 8 (Mac)*
PreSonus Studio One 2.5*
Cakewalk SONAR X2*
Jul PSP Audioware PSP SpringBox spring reverb
Aug Audiofile Engineering Triumph
Sep Sneak Peeks: Apple Logic Pro X and Avid Pro Tools 11
FXpansion Bloom reverb/ambience processor
Oct Slate Digital Virtual Buss Compressors
Nov Apple Logic Pro X*
Universal Audio NSEQ-2 Equalizer For UAD-2/Apollo
Dec Sony Creative Software Audio Master Suite: Sound Forge 11 and
SpectraLayers Pro 2
iZotope Insight Metering Suite
Sonnox Codec Toolbox
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Nov
Dec
Earthworks ZDT 1022 Mic Preamp

PreSonus BlueTube DP V2
Radial Engineering Firefly Tube Direct Box
Kush Audio Clariphonic Parallel Equalizer
Moog 500 Series Ladder Filter
Moon Professional 3500MP Mic Preamp
Ingram Engineering MPA685 Mic Preamp
Radial Engineering StageBug SB-1 and SB-2 Direct
Boxes
Zoom MS-100BT BlueTooth-programmable
MultiStomp Guitar Pedal
Heptode Virtuoso Phase Shifter
Sage Electronics Mighty G Active Direct Box
Sonic Farm 2DI4 Pentode Direct Box
Millennia Media HV-37 Mic/Instrument Preamp
Daking Audio Comp 500 Module
Sontronics Sonora 2 Mic Preamp
Millennia Media NSEQ-4 Equalizer
PreSonus RC 500 Solid-State Channel Strip
Eventide H9 Harmonizer Effects Pedal
Radial Engineering StageBug SB-4 and SB-5 Direct
Boxes
Monitors / Headphones / Audio Routing

Jan
Feb
Apr
May
Jul
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
ADAM Audio F5 and F7 Monitors

Trident HG3 Monitors
AKG K702 65th Anniversary Edition Headphones
Grace Design m903 Headphone Amp
Shure SE215 Sound Isolating Earphones
Sennheiser HD800 Headphones
Sonodyne SM200Ak Monitors
Emotiva Pro airmotiv 4 and airmotiv 6 Monitors
Eve Audio SC205 Monitors
PreSonus Eris E5 and E8 Monitors
KEF LS50 Monitor 50th Anniversary Model
Emotiva Pro Stealth 8 Monitors
Drawmer MC2.1 Monitor Controller
Radial Engineering Gold Digger mic selector and
Cherry Picker preamp selector
ADAM Audio A77X Monitors
Yamaha HS7 Monitors and HS8S Subwoofer
Focal Spirit Professional Headphones
KRK ROKIT Powered RP5 G3 Monitors
AIAIAI TMA-1, TMA-1 Studio, and TMA-1 Studio
Young Guru Edition Headphones
CAD Audio Sessions MH510 Headphones
Myth Labs Eclipse Headphones
Reid and Heath Acoustics MA350 In-Ear Monitors
Shure SE846 In-Ear Monitors
Computer Hardware / Interfaces / Controllers /

Converters
Jan
Mar
Apr
Jun
Aug
Sep
Oct
Dec
Soundware (including Recordings Showcase Of Sounds)
2013
Universal Audio Apollo Interface / UAD DSP

Engine
Steinberg CMC Series USB Controllers For
Cubase
Akai MAX49 USB/MIDI/CV Keyboard Controller
Ableton Push
Apogee Quartet Interface for Mac and iOS
Steinberg UR22 Audio/MIDI Interface
MOTU Track16 Audio/MIDI Interface
Apogee Symphony I/O 8x8 + 8 MP and
Symphony 64 ThunderBridge
Echo Digital Audio Echo2 Audio Interface
Keith McMillen Instruments QuNexus Controller
GefenTV High-Resolution USB to Analog and Digital
Audio Decoder
Mar Rob Papen Punch

Jun Arturia Spark Vintage
Tone2 Saurus
Rob Papen Blade
Modartt Pianoteq 4.5
Dec 8Dio 8Dioboe
iOS Music Tools

Jan
Feb
May
Jul
Aug
Oct
Dec
Korg iKaossilator, Moog Filtatron, Wizdom Music SampleWiz, Nonlinear

Educating macProVideo
Remote Control Surfaces: Liine Lemur, AppBC touchAble
Blue Spark Digital USB Mic for Windows, Mac, and iOS
MIDI Designer
A Tasty Pixel/Audanika Audiobus
RDE iXY Stereo iOS Mic and RDE Rec stereo recorder app
iMusicAlbum Audio Mastering Studio
Apogee One and Duet 2 for iPad and Mac
Mixers, Hardware Recorders, Acoustical Products, and Miscellany

Jan
Feb
Mar
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Oct
Dec
IsoAcoustics ISO-L8R200 Speaker Isolation Stands

Zoom Q2HD Handy Video Recorder
Behringer X32 Digital Console
CAD Audio Acousti-Shield 32
For Your Bookshelf: 3 books on MOTU Digital Performer and PreSonus
Studio One
Roland GC-1 GK-Ready Stratocaster and GR-S and GR-D V-Guitar Pedals
Cymatic Audio LR-16 Digital Multitrack Recorder
IsoAcoustics ISO-L8R Speaker Isolation Stands
Royer Labs RSM-SS1 SlingShock shockmount
Old Jersey Music Labs Drum Wallet Mk2
For back issues, please call 303-516-9118 or visit www.recordingmag.com

79
Auto-Tune Ethics
Guest editorial by Eric Ferguson

There are a lot of opinionated people
out there, especially in this business.
For every musician who swears by oldschool, band-playing-live-in-a-room, noediting-allowed production methods,
another embraces the zillion-track,
hyper-edited, DAW-based method of
todays record making. Whos right?
Sure, the critics of modern production have a point. The imperfect
recordings of yesteryear possess a
certain life that todays computeredited releases often lack. There is
nothing like a sloppy old Rolling
Stones record. Had the Stones been
quantized and Auto-Tuned, they probably wouldnt be nearly as cool today.
Does this mean that we should completely forgo modern techniques in
favor of older approaches? No, of
course not. It is the passage of time,
not production methods, that has the
greatest impact on artistic legacy. As
the decades pass, the bad music is
shifted out, and we are left with classics. The 1960s, like our time, were
filled with overproduced music. It was
only inevitable that we forgot the forgettable. The cream will rise to the top,
technology will advance, and someday,
despite modern methods, even some
of todays music will be vintage-cool.
Recorded music has always been
defined by its available technology.
Be it the electric guitar, the synthesizer, or the drum machine, the technological innovations of an era place
a sonic fingerprint on current popular
music releases. Today is no exception.
The explosion of inexpensive personal computing has brought about a
variety of new popular music production devices. Not surprisingly, many
of these technological advances face
consternation from traditionalists. Of
these tools, none is more hotly debated today than pitch correction. Often
called Auto-Tuning (named after the
worlds first successful pitch-fixin
80
plug-in, Antares Auto-Tune), pitch

correction allows a user to adjust the
intonation of a vocal or instrumental
recording.
While pitch correction is a fantastic
solution for repairing several notes in
an otherwise perfect performance, the
effect is often overused to audible
excess. Anyone who has listened to pop
music in the last decade has heard
Auto-Tune. Like the over-use of gated
reverb in the 80s, or the cardboarddead drum sounds of the 70s, the
sound of over-tuned vocals, such as
those made famous by Cher, T-Pain,
and others, is a style moniker of todays
popular music. While in-tune singing
will probably not go out of fashion,
ber-tuned vocal effects might someday appear dated to this era.
This is not to say obvious pitch correction is a bad thing. Some styles of
music, such as electronica, hip-hop,
and R&B, actually pursue synthetic
sounding vocals. For these genres, the
effect is a perfect addition to the
sonic palette. But unless artificiality
is your intention, you may want to
consider the ramifications before
blindly tuning a vocal into submission. Go lightly with Auto-Tune or
your production might be stamped
early 2000s forever.
Pitch correction has also affected
the way people make music. For
example, many lament that AutoTuning allows non-singers to record
and perform as vocalists. While this
can be true, producers have been
manufacturing
image-over-talent
artists since long before the advent of
fast and easy digital plug-ins. There
were ways to fix bad vocals back in
the good ole days... it just took hours
of punching and flying. If fake
musicians havent destroyed music
before, it probably wont happen now.
But be warnedif you over-tune a
vocal, even that of a good performance, you invite criticism. Listeners
are not dumb. They know when things
sound artificial. Do you want to risk
your singer being viewed as one who
needs Auto-Tune?
Another risk of pitch correction is
laziness. While I cannot kiss and tell
about the well-known singers Ive
Auto-Tuned and how badly their performances needed it, I can say that a
few of them were more than happy to
leave the studio when the producer
cut short a stressful vocal session by

saying: Thats a great take. We got it!
Well just polish a few notes and it
will be perfect! These artists remembered the good old days of difficult
all-night vocal sessions and were more
than pleased to see them replaced by
technology. But are we trading convenience for the greatness of blood,
sweat, and tears? Shouldnt people
work, if not bleed, for their art?
Auto-Tune addiction is another issue.
Ive worked with a few singers, a few
good singers, who wanted every note
tuned to robotic capitulation. Since
they paid my bill, I complied, but I wondered if their natural talent would have
been better served by less processing.
Weve all known the beautiful girl who
wore too much makeup. Is Auto-Tune
addiction a similar form of insecurity?
Of course there are ways to use
pitch correction that dont sound so
blatant. Reducing the effects speed,
sensitivity, or amount is one solution.
Using a manual mode is another. In
the early days of Auto-Tune one had
to spend hours manually drawing
pitch correction, or risk the ugly side
effects of the automatic mode.
Todays plugs, such as Melodyne and
Auto-Tune 7, reduce the arduous manual editing to a few simple clicks. So
unless youre looking for happy accidents, avoid automatic pitch correction. Make your own decisions. Listen
to everything in solo and dont rely
blindly on computer algorithms to
dictate musical interpretation.
To wrap things up, I must disclose
that I employ pitch correction frequently in my productions. Its a great
tool for enhancing otherwise perfect
performances. I just believe we
should consider the dangers of
overuse. Yes, obvious Auto-Tuning
sounds cool in trance, hip-hop, and
other music styles that prefer synthetic aesthetics. But is it not more
authentic to keep country down-home
and rock and roll raw?
Eric Ferguson (ferguson@recordingmag
.com) spent a dozen years as a freelance audio engineer in Los Angeles,
and is now on the faculty of the New
England School of Communications
(NESCOM) in Bangor, ME. Hes taking
a break after two solid years of writing
our Recording Fundamentals column.

Vol. Twenty Seven - Number Five

Загружено:

Сведения о документе

Оригинальное название

Авторское право

Доступные форматы

Поделиться этим документом

Поделиться или встроить документ

Параметры публикации

Этот документ был вам полезен?

Это неприемлемый материал?

Авторское право:

Доступные форматы

Vol. Twenty Seven - Number Five

Загружено:

Авторское право:

Доступные форматы

FEBRUARY 2014

VOL. TWENTY SEVEN NUMBER FIVE

PUBLISHER: Thomas Hawley

EDITOR: Mike Metlay

Sing, sing a song

ART DIRECTOR: Scott Simmonds

PLAYBACK PLATINUM SERIES

ADVERTISING SALES AND MARKETING

PRESIDENT: Thomas Hawley

Copyright 2014 Music Maker

PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.

RECORDING February 2014

RECORDING MAGAZINE FEBRUARY

Recording VocalsFrom An Insiders

Your monitoring system is critical to the final

A rock vocalist and studio tech guides us through

REVIEW BY MIKE METLAY

Recording Background Vocals.

Dangerous Music Source.

Antelope Audio Orion32.

Vocal RecordingMy Take.

Samson Resolv SE Active Studio

A successful producer discusses some of his

REVIEWS BY MIKE METLAY

All About ReverbPart 2.

These hardware controllers and iPad apps make

Novation Launch Family.

2013 Annual Index.

REVIEWS BY PAUL VNUK JR.

Blue Bottle Rocket Stage One.

PreSonus Sceptre S8 CoActual Active

A coaxial driver design and powerful onboard

REVIEW BY LORENZ RYCHNER

REVIEW BY PAUL VNUK JR.

Pearlman TM-250 Tube Microphone.

GUEST EDITORIAL BY ERIC FERGUSON

Note to faithful writers: When sending your letters by email,

Hello, Ian, and thanks for writing. As far as I can determine,

there... and be prepared to shoot your room and treat for

Tape for tapes sake?

Scott Dorsey replies:

RECORDING February 2014

RDE Releases New Stereo-Paired Pencil Condenser Mics

Sonic Reality Records Nick Mason Drum Library

RECORDING February 2014

Positive Grid Launches New Amplifier Modeling App for iOS

Sound Devices Premieres New Field Mixer/Recorder

ADK Premieres New Line of FET Mics

RECORDING February 2014

Great Gear, Great Advice, and Great Times at PreSonuSphere 2013

Upstairs, the Sternberg Conference Room was set

RECORDING February 2014

to work in houses of worship, wireless

Royal Teeth in the Manship that evening. Finally,

Recording VocalsFrom An Insiders Viewpoint

I guess youre a cheap date,

RECORDING February 2014

Engineers, if you have a singer who is incredibly

RECORDING February 2014

higher sections of your range, so choose your

Blue Bottle Rocket Stage One

A choice of capsules gives this mic amazing versatility

Blues first mic, the Bottle, was released in 1996