Over 20 years ago, all the mixing I was doing was off analog 2-inch, 24-track tape and onto 1/4-inch stereo tape. I'd started with recording to DAT (digital audio tape) stereo decks for mixdowns, but I was concerned that their built-in digital converters were not of the highest quality (I was...
It’s funny, but I’ve always thought of Bitwig as a somewhat younger cousin to Ableton Live – both companies were born in Berlin and share a clip-based, non-linear workflow for audio and MIDI. They serve well as writing, recording, or live performance tools. But with Bitwig Studio 6, I can see...
I must confess, I never really used PreSonus Studio One [Tape Op#154]. While many of my friends are among its enthusiastic users, I was never able to find a place for it amongst my already crowded selection of DAWs. My workflow tends to look like this: Steinberg Cubase for film scoring (or Apple...
Purchasing headphones and headphone mixing systems is not among the funnest parts of building and running a studio, but it is one of the most essential. If the artists recording can’t hear themselves, it’s not likely you’re going to get a good take, no matter what vintage mic and esoteric mic...
These speakers would be remarkable if they were several times their size. But given that they're relatively tiny, with a single 5.5-inch ceramic-matrix mid-woofer and a 2-inch Air Motion Transformer (AMT) tweeter, they're unbelievable. They have the extension and dynamics of a big...
We live in a portable world. With entire studios in our laptops and backpacks, every room – even the back seat of an Uber – has become a workspace. The main problem point now is monitoring. Headphones provide accurate monitoring on the go, but speakers in a well-tuned room remain the gold standard...
For years, the Sony MDR-7506 headphones were in studios everywhere. I found them to be incredibly bright, but many of my friends used them regularly and loved them. I will say that I still own a pair, and even though the ear pads are a crumbly mess, they are operational and sound the same as they...
My first digital reverb was a used Alesis MidiVerb II in the late ’80s. I'd previously built a Radio Shack echo kit, messed around with spring reverb tanks, and owned analog and digital delay stompboxes, but I wanted those cascading, long reverbs and gated drums I'd heard on then-current...
Since 2003, I've relied on a Furman HDS-6 headphone distribution amplifier and HR-6 personal mixers [Tape Op#38] for artists' monitoring. All the bands that I recorded in my Boston studio were happy creating their own headphone mixes on the HR-6, with its four mono and one stereo...
In my experience, microphones either feel like tools or they feel like instruments. Tools get the job done. Instruments make you want to work. When the Monheim Crème and Crème XL arrived at my studio, it was clear pretty quickly which category they belonged to.
Monheim isn’t a mass-production...
My professional life includes tuning acoustics and monitoring systems for both commercial and independent studios at every price point. The workflow always starts with acoustic treatment and monitoring geometry. The final step, and the icing on the cake, is electronic monitor calibration. This...
Like many a reader, I am a full-on guitar tone junkie and audio nerd. I'll discuss amps, pedals, speakers, room acoustics, mic choices, and more with anyone. I’m fascinated by details such as the sag and feel of different amp power sections, the tonal role of an output transformer, and the way...
Shure first introduced its KSM line of studio condenser mics in 1998 with the showing of the KSM32 at the AES show; this was quite a departure from what was the company’s bread and butter for multiple decades – the SM57/58 (and the later Beta variants) were arguably the most common...
We're getting into the age of intelligent plug-ins. They are doing so much that it's hard to keep track of how all these little changes stack up when in use. I recently began trying out NoiseWorks DynAssist on John McEntire's [Tape Op#23] recommendation, as he said it helped with...
Incorporating guitar pedals into studio workflows has become increasingly popular lately. I’ve seen everyone from Walrus Audio collaborating with Aaron Sterling to Chandler offering inserts specifically for guitar pedals in their new REDD Mixing System. Needless to say, everyone’s quickly catching...
Farther back in time than I’d like to admit (or can believe), I was the president of my college’s Audio Engineering Society chapter. During one lucky semester, we were able to make a trip to the AES Convention being held in Los Angeles. In the process, we were fortunate enough to tour a handful of...
Royer Labs has been making quality ribbon mics for decades. They are no-compromise products that meet the demands of everyday use. The newer R-12 is a phantom-powered ribbon microphone that features the same 2.5 micron ribbon element as the R-121 [Tape Op #19]. It handles high SPL (160 dB at 1...
AKG has just released a new line of microphones that are aimed at the first-time mic buyer. You may ask yourself: Would these mics stand up to daily use by an experienced engineer in a professional-level studio? Absolutely yes. I really don’t care how much a microphone costs, and I certainly...