The brunt of this review focuses on a shootout between the PreSonus FireStudio and the RME Fireface 800. Why? Because I already owned a Fireface and I needed a second interface. Not fair you say? The Fireface is over twice as much in street price! Yes, but the FireStudio held its own very well. In the...
When given the opportunity to review Thermionic Culture's Phoenix 2-channel compressor, I couldn't help doubting the necessity of another entry into the high-end tube compressor market. But after using this British box extensively on a variety of tracking and mixing situations, my indie-rock...
I had to record an interview for an audio documentary and didn't want to lug around my laptop and Mbox. What could I use that would offer portability and decent-though not necessarily studio-quality-sound? Thanks to Andy Hong, I got my hands on a potential solution-the Edirol R-09 flash recorder....
The Lauten Horizon is a cardioid tube mic with a shock-mounted, large-diaphragm capsule and a two-step pad. The mic ships with a shock mount, a hard mount, a power supply, and a 20 ft Gotham Audio cable with double Reussen shielding and Neutrik gold-pin connectors-all fitted snugly into a rugged aluminum...
Please read this with the "movie guy" voice in your mind. Many years have passed since the invention of the compressor, and the world has seen many incarnations of this piece of recording history. Through the ages, the compressor has morphed from a simple AGC or "automatic gain control"...
In Tape Op #60's "Gear Geeking" column, I discussed my very positive experience with Wave Arts MR Noise after receiving an email from Thom Monahan that he considers the MR Suite of plug-ins essential for his adventures recording in unconventional locations with questionable electricity...
In my "Gear Geeking" column in Tape Op #57, I discuss an ultraportable Pro Tools M-Powered system running on a handheld Sony UMPC connected to an M-Audio Transit USB interface. At the time, the Transit was the closest thing to a "Pro Tools dongle" that you could buy. As many of you...
One of the main reasons I wanted to write this review is to highlight the strength of the unit's built-in DI, which I discovered accidentally. We were evaluating a new preamp for a separate review, and I wanted to check out the instrument input. So, we set up a blind listening test using various...
I can't remember what I did with the first compressor I ever purchased-an Alesis 3630. But the second compressor I bought is still in my rack-an HHB Radius 30, the purple-colored rebadge of the original Ivory-series TL Audio 5021. It's been used on just about every session I've done since...
I've been a fan of the UK band Senser ever since their first full-length (Stacked Up) was released in the US, around the time the band began to lose members. Now that the original lineup are back, I was excited to hear that Neil Mclellan would be heading to the UK to record their fourth album....
Following on the heels of the success of the ViPRE, Groove Tubes has created another fantastic tube-based microphone preamplifier. Called the SuPRE, it looks like the twin little brother of the ViPRE. It is a two-channel preamp that delivers a healthy 72 dB of wide open gain. With a three-position Ohm...
FLUX is a French company that specializes in high-quality audio processing tools. Solera is the company's flagship dynamics tool. And there is a reason for the name; it comes from solerais, which is a wine-blending technique used to ensure consistent flavor from year to year. That the manufacturer...
Warning: For those readers who get upset when we deviate a bit from matters strictly audio, you should skip ahead to the next microphone review that fits your budget. These next paragraphs will only barely relate to audio. On the other hand: This book should resonate with anyone who's ever put...
The ATH-M50 "Professional Studio Monitor Headphones", as Audio-Technica like to call them, really are usable for recording and mixing applications. They sound amazingly clear. The top end has a wonderful clarity to it, with an extra helping of airy highs. The midrange is exceptionally smooth,...
The SoundToys suite of plug-ins was developed by a crew of ex-Eventide gurus headed up by Ken Bogdanowicz. [See interview on previous page.] Ken and the gang have been developing plug-ins for years now, starting out early in the DAW game writing exclusively for the Pro Tools TDM platform. From the very...
The Josephson Engineering C700A doesn't look like any mic you've seen before, and that's a good thing because, psychologically, you'll be expecting something new, and I promise, you won't be disappointed. It's big like a vintage mic-physically and sonically. The extra size...
By now, most of you who have read this magazine know that at WaveLab, we love ribbon mics. We record a lot more acoustic instruments than electric at times, and ribbons are always employed for their natural sound. This is mainly due to the fact that we have had a Royer R-121 microphone since it was...
Violet Design is a relatively new boutique microphone manufacturer founded by Juris Zarins, part owner of a facility that once manufactured mics for BLUE. Violet's microphones are all hand made and produced exclusively in their Latvian factory (check out the virtual factory tour on their website!)....
I came across monome in April, while trolling the web for information on step sequencers. I found myself drawn to the Spartan aesthetic of monome.org and the minimalist principles expressed there. And then there was the 40h controller itself-a user-configurable 8x8 grid of 64 backlit buttons, available...