Gear Reviews

Many of us have iPhones, your BFF when it comes to connecting to your tribe. That little dude, along with his bros iPod and iPad, also makes a good and very portable audio test set. There are several pro apps out there, but this time, I'm focusing on one of my particular favorites. Fabien...

This is a review of the Line 6 DT50 guitar amplifier, but, like most people in Hollywood, instead of telling you about the topic at hand, I'm gonna tell you about me. What can the DT50 do for me? How can it make me look good? In this case, I'm gonna review this amp from my...

A console review can be rather involved, so let me just say up front that I think the SSL AWS consoles are absolutely excellent. The sound is enormous, clear and strong; the functionality offers up what is without a doubt the most sophisticated, yet intuitive, way to work in a hybrid digital-...

As far as I know, these are the first custom-molded, in-ear monitors developed for pro audio engineers. As these are custom-molded to fit your ears, I first had to go get my ears molded by an audiologist — always a weird sensory deprivation experience. A few weeks later, my monitors arrived and I...

Usually when I get a microphone sent to me from a manufacturer, I’m allowed to keep it for a ridiculously long time, sometimes two months or more. Normally I return the mic within three or four weeks, since I don’t like to take advantage of the situation. The process is simple. I get the mic, I put...

Universal Audio just keeps on coming up with great products for both the pro and home studio. Their latest entry is the 4-710d microphone preamp. It’s basically four channels of UA’s 710 preamp, which allows you to blend between tube and transistor–based circuitry, in a 2U-height chassis with the...

Few pieces of gear prove themselves indispensable to every session — something you’d pick to put first in your bag when you travel, that you can truly call “must-have”. The Passive Link, “made in an Australian shed” by Broadcast Pro Audio, is essentially a passive re-amp box, allowing you to easily...

I’m a huge fan of Arturia and their virtual synth designs. They are, I feel, one of the best software synth developers around. I love using their “V” synths (Tape Op #41, 57, 67) in various DAW sequencers for sound design and general nerdlery. So I was excited to get my mitts on their hardware...

Ah compressors… those wonderful helpers that make our lives easier. It seems like the more you learn how to use compression to your advantage, the more you want different types and flavors to use in tracking and mixing. As some of you may know, we at WaveLab have been using a pair of Daking FET II...

My musical tastes are relatively populistic, but I’ve got the merest hint of music snob in my bones. It’s the part of me that recoils when Antares Auto-Tune is used as an overtly applied vocal effect, or when hearing pop performances so perfectly pitched and sterile that they’re robbed of life....

I’ve used and/or reviewed almost every permutation of the UAD platform over the years, and let me say that I find the UA-developed plug-ins to be some of the finest sounding digital tools on the market. I’ve had access to the entire roster for a while now and am impressed with the range and quality...

The Translator is an interesting little passive device that purports to add “vintage tone” to your stale signals. It’s a small, bright red, inline XLR coupler with a transformer inside that’s meant to be added between mic and preamp. In use, the Translator adds a bit of harmonic sheen and clears up...

In a trend of 500-series this-and-that, many manufactures have responded to the question, “Can we get a tube module?” with, “Due to power supply requirements, it can’t be done.” Roll Music Systems accepted this challenge and responded with the RMS5A7 Tubule. As expected, this preamp is outfitted...

The KSM line represents Shure’s premium recording microphones. The newest member is the KSM42, a fixed-cardioid side-address condenser mic. With a similar “giant almond” shape to the KSM44A, the KSM42 is a darker-bronze metallic and is tailored for vocals. The package we reviewed included a hard...

How in the world do you get away from the stupid trackpad and keyboard while DJ'ing from a laptop?  This has been one of the bigger questions since DJs began moving from CDs to computer-based rigs. Traktor Kontrol X1 is one of Native Instruments' answers.  The Kontrol X1 is...

Are you completely happy with all of your mixes and see no reason to attempt to learn more or get better at this craft? Then read no more — you might not need this book.

Foreword: I’ve been getting a lot of mix work lately. I guess it’s a combination of finally owning a decent analog console and the...

Black Lion is a small company best known for tearing apart and upgrading off-the-shelf gear. They also manufacture pro audio items. One of their offerings is the Micro Clock Mk2, a small footprint, barebones, external master clock. If you are the owner of a Pro Tools HD rig with legacy Digidesign...

The world of the digital DJ has undergone tons of changes in a relatively short time.  Much like the realm of mobile phones, there are new technologies, hardware configurations, and functionality introduced at a blistering pace.  Where only a few years ago, the digital jockey options were...

During the last couple years, the 500-series format has developed into an industry standard among audio manufacturers, but over and over, I’ve found myself reading online that Neve clones would never be compatible due to voltage and current restrictions. The first time I read this supposed fact, I...