Archive for 'Product Review'

I’m a big advocate of using the built in mic pres in your audio interface for two reasons: they sound good, and you’ve already paid for them! But if and when you decide to venture out in search of an external mic pre for coloration or a different sound then you may become fond of the Pre-73 from Golden Age Project.

This tabletop pre is a well made, vintage style mic pre that can add some character and warmth to your signal. In using it on a few projects recently, here are my top Pros and Cons as well as my full review with an audio sample:

Pros – Great sound, built tough, impedance switch, excellent DI, realistic price.

Cons – Mic/Line gain knob takes some getting used to, no low cut filter

As a Pro Tools user since version 6, I’ve seen this powerful DAW change each year and add more and more incredible features. Version 9 is no exception, and I finally upgraded to it in my studio. I wanted to highlight a handful of the big reasons why I made the leap and how I think it is a great step forward for Avid.

As I mentioned in my Pro Tools 9 first look, there is no longer an LE line of this software. Just a native version and the HD versions. You can purchase Pro Tools standalone for $599 US, or crossgrade from LE for $249 and from M-Powered for $349. For details on the product, check out Avid’s page.

If and when you are in need of more than just your go to $100 microphone in your studio, it’s helpful to know what other mics are available. With so many brands and types to choose from it can become overwhelming. I recently stumbled upon a small audio company in Canada called Kel Audio and they make some fantastic mics that are reasonably priced. Check out the video review below for some sound samples and more info about them, and also check out Kel’s website for more details on their entire mic line and info about the company!

Of all pieces of gear in your studio, one of the most helpful things you can own is a good pair of studio headphones. I recommend most people start out with a basic audio interface and one pair of headphones for a reason: they are an affordable and practical way to monitor, edit, and mix your material. Even as you grow your skill and eventually add a pair of studio monitor speakers to your arsenal, you need a good pair of headphones as part of your process.

Today I’m reviewing a pair of headphones from one of my favorite “new” companies, Editors Keys (www.EditorsKeys.com). I’m already a fan of their USB mics and portable vocal booths, so I knew I would be in for a treat with their entry into studio headphones. In a nutshell, the SH10s are a pair of closed-back, over the ear headphones that are great for tracking purposes as well as mixing. Let’s take a quick look at how they perform in both arenas.

Tuning Out The Noise

When recording with headphones you ideally want two things to happen: be able to hear your self and the recorded tracks clearly at a comfortable volume, and at the same time not let much if any of that bleed out into the microphone(s) in front of you. The SH10′s closed back design is perfect for this as it doesn’t let much sound leak out.

I recently recorded a project and  brought these headphones along for the ride along with my usual “go-to” tracking headphones from AKG. I told the drummer to try out both pairs of headphones when recording and tell me which pair he preferred. The second he put on the SH10s he was sold. Never went back to the other pair. His reasons: “They just feel so comfortable and I can hear myself better with these.” Bingo! That’s what I want to hear as an engineer and producer. If the talent is not comfortable and is struggling to hear themselves, you won’t get a great performance. So having the right tracking headphones is a must.

Revealing In The Mix

Although many people will tell you not to mix in headphones, for some it is their only option: and it can be a good one. I think mixing in headphones is given too much bad publicity and not enough praise. Granted the reasons for choosing to mix on monitors in a nicely treated room are justified (more accurate stereo imaging, less ear fatigue, proper bass response), there are a lot of reasons to mix on headphones as well, reasons I don’t have time to cover today.

But when you want to mix with headphones you don’t want an over hyped sound. Unfortunately many headphones are tailored to boost the bass response and upper frequencies to make your music sound more exciting. This is not useful to a mixer. Ideally you want to hear your music as flat as possible so you can make accurate mix decisions. What I’ve found with the Editors Keys SH10 headphones is a relatively flat frequency response, but with an audible bump in the mid range. At first I thought this made things sound a bit thin, but what I realized was I was actually able to better distinguish parts in that mid-range (guitars, vocals, snare) and I was putting mixes together much quicker.

Perhaps it’s a similar effect to many engineers’ experience with the classic Yamaha NS-1o monitor speakers. Supposedly a very “thin” mid-rangy pair of speakers but always used during the mixing process because “if it sounds good on NS-10s, it’s good.” Either way, the SH10s have now become an invaluable tool in my mixing workflow and I trust them.

Final Thoughts

All in all, the SH10s are an affordable monitoring/mixing solution for many home studio owners. Coming in at about $65 US they aren’t out of reach for most people and should seriously be in the running if you are considering a pair of studio headphones in the sub $100 category. And honestly, you have nothing to lose with these puppies as Mark over at Editors Keys is offering a 100% money back guarantee if you aren’t satisfied with them. You don’t see that with many other manufacturers!

Today is “Black Friday” in the US. The day after Thanksgiving, when the oficial Christmas shopping craziness is supposed to begin. I don’t know who makes up these rules, but that’s how it goes.

Now you know that I am kind of whacky when it comes to recording gear…whacky in the sense that I tend to tell you to NOT buy a lot of gear. I think we’re all obsessed with stuff, especially recording gear. So why am I writing a post on gear? Because I didn’t say you couldn’t ASK for gear as a gift. Bingo!

Affordable and Practical

Today I just want to highlight a handful of practical studio gift ideas. These items are all currently priced under $100 US so there aren’t outrageously expensive (which means someone might actually buy it for you)! More importantly, they can really make an impact in your studio right away. So get your wish list ready…here we go!

Shure SM57 Microphone – $99

If you don’t already have an SM57 in your arsenal, then ask for one this Christmas. This dynamic mic is an amazing example of flexibility. It’s great on snare drums, toms, guitar cabinets, and even vocals. I’m almost always surprised at how good this thing sounds. It won’t have that top end, airy crispness of a condenser mic, but what it does, it does well. Always have an SM57 on hand for any recording session. And if you have one already, it can’t hurt to have two!

ART Tube MP Preamp – $48

Do you have an audio interface with only one mic pre? Many of these boxes have a second line level channel that you can hook an external mic pre up to. If you are in need of another mic input there’s no better and affordable option for the home studio than the famous Tube MP from ART. This little tube pre is great for adding some color or “warmth” to your signal. It will sound different than your built in pre (not better necessarily, but different), and can give you more inputs of course. They are also great as a DI for bass guitar.

Behringer GDi21 Amp Modeler Pedal – $38

I reviewed one of these a while back and they are excellent. They act as both a simple overdrive stomp box, or as a DI with XLR outs to run analog amp modeling into your live rig or DAW. Three basic amps, with different gain and EQ controls makes it easy to get a good sound out of this unit. Plus if your guitar amp ever dies before a gig or studio session you can use this as a backup!

Auralex Aural-Xpanders Acoustic Treatment – $59

I got this little acoustic foam kit years ago when I started out. It’s basically some portable baffles and sound absorption platforms for your mic stands. It’s great for some sound isolation for your drum overhead mics, vocal mics, guitar cabinet recording, etc. It may seem subtle but some simple acoustic treatment at the source can go a long way as you layer track after track in your sessions. And for $59 you can’t go wrong with this handy kit!

Samson C-Control Monitor Management – $99

If you’re looking for a way to easily switch between multiple sets of monitors and speakers in your studio while you mix, or are in need of a an affordable talkback system for your studio, the C-Control from Samson kicks major butt for little cash. It couldn’t be easier to add powerful features like speaker switching, source switching (for referencing an iPod or something),mono, dim, and mute controls, as well as a built in mic for seamless talkback with your talent. A ton of value for your studio for under $100.

I’m a huge fan of doing a lot with a little, and GarageBand (the free recording app from Apple) is the epitome of that sentiment. Anyone who owns a mac has this little “Logic Lite” program built in and I’m sure you’ve played with it. Today I wanted to take a brief look at the brand new version bundled with iLife ’11 to show you two areas that GarageBand has matured and is almost a game changer for the home studio person.

There quite a few enhancements this go around, but let me highlight the big ones in my mind:

• Flex Time – Pulled from its big brother, Logic, Flex Time is now available in a free recording app. This allows you to time stretch and compress audio instantly and musically in order to fix a performance.
• Groove Matching – Using the Flex Time technology, Groove Matching allows you to tighten up a whole multitrack session to match the feel and groove of one “guide” track, all in one click.
• Amps and Effects – GarageBand has always had some amp modeling, but now it has pulled a ton of amps and stomp box effects from Logic and the options for instant guitar tone are limitless.

So check out the video and let me know what you think. For more info and videos by Apple, check out the GarageBand home page.

There’s nothing quite like plugging your favorite guitar into a classic tube amp and cranking it up. And if you’re looking for great guitar tone in the home studio, this might be a great option for you. The Bugera V5 is a 5 watt tube combo amp. It’s only an 8 inch speaker but it packs some punch. With simple controls like Gain, Tone, Volume, and Reverb it’s hard not to get a great sound of this thing.

But honestly the best part is the fact that you can attenuate the wattage down, which means you can crank up the amp, push the tubes for the optimal tone, and not be too loud in a small home studio or stage environment. More tone for less volume. Brilliant. Take a quick look at this video to see and hear the Bugera V5 in action. I kind of love this thing.

Bugera V5 Features:

• Tube driven amp (1 x EL84 and 1 x 12AX7)
• 5 watts, but 2 way attenuator built in
• Reverb included
• Headphone output built in
• Priced at $149 US
• Looks super sweet. Which is crucial for your street cred!

If you play electric guitar then you might be able to identify with this. I play guitar and sing in my church band each and every week and depend on my gear. I only have one guitar amp currently and it’s a workhorse. But two weeks ago, said amp started to have electrical spurts of noise and was going wacky on me; totally unuseable live since it could “explode” at any moment. My other guitar players have only one amp as well so there was no extra amp to fill in for me until I could get mine fixed. So what did I do?? I turned to a $30 piece of gear that is now my guitar amp insurance.

The Wonder Pedal

A few weeks back I did a video review of the Behringer GDi21 amp modeling pedal. It’s a great little box that I use for overdrive on my pedal board. I’ve also used it for recording on my band’s recent recording project. But when my amp blew and I didn’t have a backup amp or time to get it fixed before Sunday’s service, I turned to the GDi21 as my “amp.”

The great thing about this pedal is that instead of running it quarter inch in and out like a stompbox, you can run it as DI with balanced XLR out straight to the mixing console. And that’s exactly what I’ve done. My guitar goes into all my pedals, with the Behringer being last in my chain (as if it were my amp). Then I run a mic cable out of the GDi21 straight into our snake on stage. The result? No one noticed a difference. It’s getting the job done just fine! I can switch amp models if I need to, switch mic placement as well, and then EQ to taste! All on one pedal right in front of me!

Small Price To Pay

To be honest, it’s a lot more fun to have your amp on stage pushing a wall of sound than to just run direct to your monitors and front of house, but having this pedal as more than just overdrive, but an actual backup amp is incredible. You can’t beat the deal of spending only $30 to keep a “backup amp” in your guitar case. Think of it as life insurance for your amp.

If you caught one of my posts last week then you know I was out of town doing a remote recording project. When taking your studio far away and trying to think through the simplest setup you can bring, it’s good to have great sounding, compact, and reliable gear. One piece of gear that I could NOT have done this project without is the ADA8000 from Behringer, an 8 channel preamp and AD/DA converter that fits in a 1U rack space.

The Behringer ADA8000

I’ve written before about how easy it is to expand your audio interfaces inputs with an ADAT connection and how many choices you’ll find on the market for products that do just that. But I have to say from the countless recording projects I’ve used it on, the Behringer ADA8000 is the hidden gem of affordable home studio gear.

For a mere $199 brand new, you get 8 pristine mic pres with phantom power (or 8 line inputs), 8 channels of A/D conversion (via the optical cable), and 8 channels of D/A conversion to balanced connections on the back. So you’re basically getting a great mic pre and converter for just $20 a channel! It’s just insane to think that other “budget” 8 channel mic pres run for at least twice what Behringer is charging for the same thing.

Home Studio Needs At Home Studio Prices

One of the simplest (but best) things about the ADA8000 is having the pres and line ins on the front panel. This makes recording in the home/portable studio much easier. This past week I was recording 8 channels of drums, then switching to keyboard line ins, then miking vocals and saxophone in another room. All the while I was constanly plugging and unplugging cables and not once did I have to reach around to the back of the rack and somehow reach the correct inputs. Simple, but super helpful for home studio folks who can’t leave mics plugged int all the time.

Combine the great sound and usability of this unit with a typical Behringer price and you have a real practical piece of equipment for real home studio musicians and producers. At $199, expanding your inputs for another 8 channels is now affordable for everyone. I like gear that works for real people with real budgets, and the ADA8000 delivers.

These Can Be Your Main Pres

I want to make one thing clear. Some people reading this might get the impression that the ADA8000 will suffice for some “extra channels”. That it might sound decent enough and be priced well enough to simply expand your inputs…but you’d never use them as your go-to pres. To that I would say, think outside the box of your preconceived notions and brand snobbery. The pres in this unit are quiet, clear, punchy, and perfectly suited for any kind of source. I personally have used them on projects for drums, guitars, and lead vocals with stellar results. These pres are just as good as any other pre or channel strip you would laugh at comparing them to.

So if you’re in the market for one of the many 8 channel ADAT ready mic pres, don’t forget about this hidden gem. Save yourself some major cash and be glad you’re getting just as good of as sound for less with the Behringer ADA8000. I know I am.

Keeping in theme with last week’s video on how to mic a guitar amp, today I’m reviewing the versatile amp modeling stomp box from Behringer, the V-Tone GDi21. In a nutshell this unit is a simple, affordable, and great sounding way to get a variety of classic guitar tones into your recordings or live setup all in one small blue box. Check out the video for more details as well as sound samples as I play through a lot of the settings.

The Quick Facts

Pros:

• Huge variety of amp tones in one box
• Very easy to get a great sound
• Affordable amp modeling for your studio
• Can double as an overdrive pedal for your live rig
• Can’t beat the price!

Cons:

• Some noise as you push the output gain up a bit
• Hard to read the dials from a distance