The Creative Music Recording Magazine

Michael Brauer
Mixing Vandross, Rolling Stones, Coldplay
Brendan Perry

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of Dead Can Dance

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Mark de Clive-Lowe
Samples Meet Jazz
Catherine Vericolli
Fivethirteen Recording in Phoenix

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Liam Judson and

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Doug Boehm
Recording Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever
Austrian Audio (d
in Behind the Gear
Loudness Metering
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A Practical Guide for the Recording Studio

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Gear Reviews
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$5.99 No. 131

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June/July 2019
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Hello and
welcome to
Tape Op
#131!
10 Letters
12 Loudness Metering
14 Catherine Vericolli
18 Brendan Perry
26 Michael Brauer
42 Mark de Clive-Lowe

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46 Liam Judson & Doug Boehm

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50 Behind the Gear with Austrian Audio:
p a g e

Making New Mics

52 Gear Reviews
74 Tony’s End Rant

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Since founding this magazine 23 years ago, it’s been interesting to me the
many ways Tape Op reflects my own journey through music and audio, but also
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the many facets in which it doesn’t. Sure, I own and run a professional studio, just like many of the people we
interview, and it grew out of a small basement studio in my home, as do a portion of our readers and some of our
interviewees. Catherine Vericolli and I share many of the same hurdles in running a studio in a smaller market, but
Catherine Vericolli does not want her
tape machine used as a table!
when I compare my experiences mixing records, I definitely don’t have any credits like Michael Brauer’s, with albums See her interview on page 14.
by the Rolling Stones or Coldplay to his name! I fell into this career by being in an underground band, which lead Photo by Larry Crane.
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to making albums in affordable studios on small budgets. And I may have been in a group with a small, loyal fanbase,
but I never toured the world or kept a band going for nearly 40 years, as Brendan Perry of Dead Can Dance has
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skillfully done. And my musicianship? I’m a rank amateur compared to a player like Mark de Clive-Lowe!
But we get to talk to so many people involved in many parts of the record-making process, and I learn something
from every conversation. Sharing what I’ve learned (and continue to learn) is the best part of all of this, and I’m
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grateful to our readers for being a part of this journey.

Larry Crane, Editor

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 The Creative Music Recording Magazine

Editor & Founder

Larry Crane
Publisher &Graphic Design
John Baccigaluppi
Online Publisher
Geoff Stanfield
CTO & Digital Director
Anthony Sarti
Production Manager & Gear Reviews Editor
Scott McChane
Gear Geek at Large
Andy Hong

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Contributing Writers &Photographers
Cover art by Scott Lewis <www.behance.net/scottlewis>

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<slewis@earthlink.net>
Aaron Mullan, Valerie Luxicon, Stephanie Füssenich, Vaughan Stedman,
Victor Lévy-Lasne, Bruce Whisler, Alan Tubbs, Michael Romanowski, Don Gunn,
Adam Kagan, Dave Hidek, Scott Evans, Justin Mantooth, Ben Bernstein,
Dana Gumbiner, Kerry Rose, and Tony SanFilippo.

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Editorial and Office Assistants
Jenna Crane (editorial copy editor), Jordan Holmes (reviews copy editor),

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Thomas Danner (transcription, online),
Maria Baker (admin, accounting), Jay Ribadeneyra (online)
Tape Op Book distribution
c/o www.halleonard.com
(d Disclaimer
TAPE OP magazine wants to make clear that the opinions expressed within reviews, letters, and
articles are not necessarily the opinions of the publishers. Tape Op is intended as a forum to
advance the art of recording, and there are many choices made along that path.
Editorial Office
(For submissions, letters, music for review. Music for review is also
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reviewed in the San Rafael office, address below)
P.O. Box 86409, Portland, OR 97286 voicemail 503-208-4033
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All unsolicited submissions and letters sent to us become the property of Tape Op.
Advertising
John Baccigaluppi
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916-444-5241, (john@tapeop.com)
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415-420-7273, (marsha@tapeop.com)
Printing: Alan Mazander & Matt Saddler
@ Democrat Printing, Little Rock, AR
Subscribe online at tapeop.com
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(Notice: We sometimes rent our subscription list to our advertisers.)

Subscription and Address Changes
Can all be made online at <tapeop.com/subscriptions>.
Back issues can be purchased via <tapeop.com/issues>. If you have
(a

subscription issues that cannot be fixed online, email

<circulation@tapeop.com> or send snail mail to
PO Box 151079, San Rafael, CA 94915.
Please do not email or call the rest of the staff about subscription issues.
Postmaster and all general inquiries to:
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Tape Op Magazine, PO Box 151079, San Rafael, CA 94915

(916) 444-5241 | tapeop.com
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Tape Op is published by Single Fin, Inc. (publishing services)

and Jackpot! Recording Studio, Inc. (editorial services)

www.tapeop.com
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8/Tape Op#131/Masthead
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Always a joy to renew my subscription to what could be
the best resource for sound recordists on the planet!
(Perhaps the universe?) Though we can all revel in
Tape Op’s raft of technical information that keeps us afloat
as professionals, for me it is the personal histories and
anecdotes that really bring the world of recording to life.
I had the pleasure of meeting Don Was [Tape Op #113] when
we were live-streaming video of him on tour with Bob Weir
and Jay Lane as part of the Wolf Bros last fall. Don was a
kind and generous soul – he even claimed to have liked our
audio mix for the video! Although I knew he was a legend,
I didn’t recall just how much so until I returned home and
pulled issue #113 off the shelf to re-read your interview.
Thank you for continuing your work to keep these stories
alive. I see in recent issues you are trying to include more
from the margins; the less-often told stories from women
Please continue that
and minorities.
important work.
My sons are just now starting
to record, and they’re beginning to discover how great it is
to have issues of Tape Op throughout the year and on the
shelf. It sure helps the “cool dad factor” when I can point to
an issue and say, “Oh, yeah; him? I worked with that guy...”
Jason Fifield <jason@slifeproductions.com>
As a young musician and aspiring engineer/producer
(I’ll be 18 in June) I recently discovered Tape Op
magazine, and I’ve got to say that it’s an invaluable
resource. Having a professional magazine full of handy
tips and interesting advice from people with years of
experience arrive in my inbox every couple of months is This article was not about the ABKCO vaults, but about
amazing, and since it’s free I almost feel like it’s robbery!
the career of Teri Landi, who has worked there for many
My next course of action is to get a job, so that I can years. I know Allen Klein had a bad reputation, but his
subscribe to your archives. actions many years ago are no reason to ignore the tireless
Ben Mackenzie <ben.mackenzie345@gmail.com> work that Teri has done to restore and present important
Thanks Ben! It’s rewarding to me that our magazine works of music. -LC
can keep influencing and educating new generations about Manny’s Hard Drive Organizing Tip! It’s 11 p.m. and
the art of creative recording. -LC I’m doing something I used to think was pointless; I’m
I think your magazine is excellent, despite the
fact that I only get to read a PDF as I am UK-based.
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I recently discovered your Tape Op Podcast series, which
I was delighted with, but also greatly saddened when
I started listening to them. The sound is not good. I
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know there is a disclaimer at the top of most of these
recordings, but you are, after all, a pro audio magazine
and regularly talk about audio fidelity. As a Brit who
loves irony, this is right on the nail. When I loaded this
web page, an advert for DPA came up – get some of
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these mics please; then you could make better
recordings. Your magazine readers will enjoy listening
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to the recordings, and geeks like me will enjoy listening
to the interviews in the car. If you would like any
interviews recorded in the UK, I’ll happily do them for
you. I have DPA mics, and I have pop filters!
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Donal Hodgson <donalhodgson@me.com>
10/Tape Op#131/Letters/
I totally understand your
comments and bewilderment,
but the truth is simply that
the podcasts you refer to are
(most likely) the ones we did
long BEFORE we planned on
using the interviews for our
podcast, or even thought
about having a podcast!
These recordings, such as Brian Eno
[Tape Op #85] or Steve Albini [#87], were only done for the
purpose of transcription for the print interviews, and therefore
the audio quality was not an issue at the time of recording.
Geoff Stanfield, our online publisher, and I now have the DPA
MMA-A Mobile Device Interface that works with an iPhone or
laptop, and pairs of the tiny 4061 lavalier microphones [both
reviewed in #127] for our current interviews and podcasts,
and I think these sound fantastic. -LC
I found your highly-complimentary article on the ABKCO
[Music & Records Inc.] vaults distressing [Tape Op #129].
While they may be doing a great job of restoring and
exploiting the music under their control, the truth of
the matter is that most of that music
was stolen by Allen Klein, a cunning thief, from naive
artists who trusted him to represent their interests, and
instead had their money, publishing rights, and royalty
payments diverted to Klein’s company. A celebration of the
legacy of a criminal is not something that belongs in Tape
Op, regardless of the possibility that some aspects of it may
be interesting. I think at least a mention of the
questionable, exploitive, and likely illegal ways that this
amazing material was stolen from the actual creators by a
man who never played an instrument, wrote a song, or sang
a note would have been both appropriate and instructive. I
thought Tape Op was a magazine about music and
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creativity, not a PR outlet for criminals.
Mike Levitt <via internet>
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I don’t think it even matters what genre of publication
one is referring to. Tape Op is premium, top-of-the-line in
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every possible aspect of print media. Thank you for
continually producing a magazine that I impatiently wait
for, read cover-to-cover when I receive it, and then re-
read over and over again!
taking screenshots of all my hard drives off my Mac, as
well as other miscellaneous drives. In the last few years
of traveling a few have gone bad, and when you go to a to send these plaudits? Thank you for reading, and for the
specialist for data retrieval, they want specific folders and support. I am honored, as always! -LC
names. This has saved me and guaranteed that I can get
all the data back. I make a separate folder on my desktop
of all of these, and it helps when searching for someone
who wants files too. Just sharing!
Manny Nieto [Tape Op #98]
<distortionfelix@yahoo.com>
Thank you very, very much for all your efforts with Tape
Op. It is a wonderful magazine, which has inspired me
since the beginning of my career. It is always filled with
great (and very useful) information, and I always love how
genuine and straight to the point it is. Thank you again!
Matt Sartorin <www.proaudioeurope.com>
I’m happy to fill out your [free subscription] survey,
and I love the mag. Larry, you and your staff rawk! I “fall
through the cracks” when it comes to the gear I use, as
you don’t really list it as an option (and I can certainly
understand why). I use an analog Tascam M-2600 MK II
32-channel board and go into an Alesis HD24 digital
recorder. I mix to the Alesis MasterLink. I use all hardware
signal processing. Keep up the great work, and I
appreciate the hard copy subscription. By the way, as I
grow older and older, your type gets smaller and smaller.
Mark Zampino <markz@ctcpas.org>
Ha! Every year I need slightly stronger reading glasses to
proof the magazine, but our type size and font (ITC Officina
8.5 pt.) has not changed for decades. -JB
Greetings from sunny Detroit. I just got around to
reading the interview with Tony Bongiovi from last year
[Tape Op #127]. What took me so long? I had to read it
three times at a recent lunch break. Three things: 1) He
talks about, as a kid, how he analyzed the reverb on
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Motown records and tried to recreate it in a spare room in
his father’s funeral home. That’s initiative! I was learning
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how to work the toaster at that age and sometime failing.
2) I kept reading “boxes” as “bones” during this part of the
interview. He’s moving bones in a funeral home? Now that’s
some rock ‘n’ roll shit! Nope, I just read too fast and
eagerly. 3) He talks about his time at Hitsville in Detroit in
)
What a time,
the ‘60s, and hanging with the crew.
what a town, what a sound. Amazing.
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Interesting man. Still has his Motown ID, even. People…
if you have not been to the Motown Museum, do yourself
a favor and book a trip. It will be an afternoon you will not
soon forget. Great grub and beverages in the area, too. You
can even check out the reverb chamber of which Tony
speaks. Tape Op: I hope you understand what a service you
are providing by sharing insight into these great minds and
legends. I hope you had as much fun putting this together
as I did reading it. Keep on keepin’ on.
Paul Einhaus <pauleinhaus.bandcamp.com>
Tape Op is the finest publication available today.
Nick Welch <nicknwelch@gmail.com>
Are we sure my mom isn’t creating fake email accounts
Send Letters & Questions
to: editor@tapeop.com
Tape Op is made
possible by our
advertisers.
Please support them and tell them
you saw their ad in Tape Op.
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 A Practical Guide to Loudness Metering
for the Recording Studio
Years ago, before they hired (Tape Op
contributor) Chris Koltay to tour with them, I
mixed the band Deerhunter at a festival.
Afterward I went to find the band and
say hello. Lead singer and guitarist
Bradford Cox came right up to me
and said, “Dude! You turned up by Aaron Mullan
my guitar for the solos! I could
hear it from the stage! Nobody
knows to do that. Thank you!” It
seemed so obvious to me, I
couldn’t understand how
somebody would not do that. A

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few years after that I noticed

another live sound engineer, mixing
a Latin band, had a VCA group
[voltage controlled amplifier] labeled
“VAMP.” He explained to me that the VCA
had everything except the vocals in it. That way
when the vocalist stepped away from the mic, and the
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But what if you don’t want the volumes to be
close to each other? Even if you’re mixing a
song that is purposefully loud/quiet/loud, the
loud parts all probably want to be about the
same loudness, and the same for the quiet
parts. Looking quickly at Spiritualized’s “All of

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band started to vamp, he would push the whole band louder to fill the void. Here was something just My Thoughts,” the three quiet sections all

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as obvious as turning up a guitar solo, and it had never occurred to me. The point is, when listening average around -14 LUFS, and both loud
to popular forms of music, we generally want the music to consistently fill up about the same amount sections averaging around -7 LUFS. The whole
of space. When James Brown counts to four on “Funky Drummer,” so everyone could “lay out and let song averages about -11 LUFS, which means
the drummer go,” Clyde Stubblefield does play a little bit harder, but the mix engineer also clearly turns any streaming service will probably offset the
him up right when the band drops out, and, correctly, doesn’t turn him down until after the second
beat when the band comes back in. (d
playback by about -3 dB.

Whether you like it or not, the overall

What the hell am I even talking about? Back to average for your entire song will end up at -14
Loudness Metering... LUFS. Having a loudness meter helps you ‘hear’
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this reality. So, mix with dynamics, but make
When television shows are mixed, it is common practice to have a loudness meter (metering the mix your mix even better by being aware of the fact
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bus) visible at all times. The mixer constantly watches to make sure the mix is sitting around -23 LUFS that if you have a massive, loud, 64-bar, full-
(loudness units relative to full scale). Of course, with television, the vast majority of your LUFS band outro, the front part of the song, which is
allowance is going to be blown on dialog. So really, the meter is mostly telling the mixer if the dialog just voice and piano, will get turned down to
is at a consistent level (for example, whispered dialog shouldn’t actually be quieter than spoken dialog inaudibility if you don’t build your mix to
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as the timbre conveys the concept to the audience). If a scene has an extended music passage without account for it. See you in the sweet spot! r
dialog, the level that music often sits at is – you guessed it – about -23 LUFS.

Mixing music is different, of course; but for a conventional song, the focal element at any given Thanks to Patrick Klem for reading a draft of
point in the song is at the same level. The most obvious example is an instrumental solo that replaces this article and offering his insights and edits.
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the lead vocal for a verse. If you’ve got your mix with the vocals hovering at -14 LUFS, and most
elements remain the same, you can turn up the solo instrument until you get back to -14 and you’ll
probably have a pretty good mix. An instrumental intro usually works out in a similar manner. This is
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why I started to mix music with a loudness meter across the master bus. My monitor volume is already
set (see “Monitor at a Consistent Volume When Mixing” in Tape Op #121), so I can be pretty sure – just
by turning things up until they sound right – that my mix will be sitting close to the magic -14 LUFS
without even looking. But the loudness meter helps me ensure that different parts of the same song
are somewhere close to one another.
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12/Tape Op#131/Loudness Metering/

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 Since 2006 Catherine Vericolli has run her Fivethirteen Recording in Tempe, outside
of Phoenix, Arizona. Along with long-time engineer Dominic Armstrong, she’s kept
the studio busy and growing in a difficult market. I was curious to find out how she
started up, and what she’d learned along the way, so I dropped in to visit, see the
studios, and discover more about her career.
Where did you learn recording?
I went to The Conservatory of Recording Arts and c Valerie Luxicon/Luxicon Phototgraphy
Sciences [CRAS] in 2003 and 2004. I was one of
those annoying students that everybody hated who
did well. Before that, I didn’t know what I wanted to
do. I was never in band and I didn’t play instruments,
but I was always a super avid listener as a kid. I got
into music really young; I’d buy cassette tapes and
CDs. Sometimes I miss those days, because there was

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that wonder. I remember when I got to CRAS, I was
like, “Oh, yeah!” I remember hearing a dry vocal for

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the first time. “Wait, there’s not reverb on vocals
automatically?” I went in knowing nothing at all. I
was into the music scene here; friends were
musicians, but I wasn’t in a band. I was so obsessed
with music. I decided, “I think I want to build a

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studio in Phoenix.” I wanted to build a place for my
friends who were making records. I wanted this to be

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a community space. The first record we did here was
a great local band called Sweetbleeders.
[Bandleader] Robin Vining’s now the auxiliary player
in Jimmy Eat World. Mike Hissong was their engineer
for years. He came and made a record here. I asked,
“Do you want to make more records here?” I was 23.
We were working well together and he never left.
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Now Mike’s been on staff here since. We’ve had the
doors open and have been an active, open recording
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studio for 13 years, which is hard in any market. In
Phoenix, it’s extra hard. We’re working with a lot of
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young bands. As a local band, it’s easy to get on a

bill. All these places are saying, “We need to get
music in here.” There are some wonderful bands here,
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and have been for a long time, but what we have is

a lot of bands that maybe shouldn’t be getting shows
that are getting shows.
Maybe a little bit premature.
They have a false sense of ability, maybe. “Oh, we played
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a few shows, and now we want to go make a record.”

They come into the studio and realize, “We’ve never
even heard each other before!” We’ll get bands who
aren’t necessarily ready to kick that out. It’s a tough
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market. When I built the studio in my 20s, it was,

“This is going to be awesome! It’s going to be tons of
fun. We’re going to make records.” It was very music
scene and music community focused. I’d been good
friends with [singer/songwriter] Lonna Kelley. I
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wouldn’t have built a studio if it hadn’t been for

Lonna. I went to audio engineering school and was
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already working with Lonna as an engineer. At the

time, there wasn’t a great studio to work out of. There
was a crazy, giant studio in Chandler, Arizona, that
was $1,000 a day. After opening I realized, “Oh, fuck;
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I have to make money! I have to pay bills.” This can’t

 just be a thing that’s super fun. It still is fun, but I Agreed. And we’ve done that. I think it’s not the best is awesome. I don’t know if I would have a studio
had to find different sources of revenue. Because it’s way to make money, but I find that being honest and that would be any other way. But that’s just me
such a young city, it’s the chicken and the egg. You upfront with bands has kept 90 percent of our clients personally. A lot of bands can’t make records on tape
need good bands to push other bands to be better returning, which is pretty crazy. We’re doing because they’re not that good. You have to be good
for the scene to grow. The problem is that when something right. We’ve had bands that have made to make records on tape. I can’t make those punches
there’s a band in a position to do that for this three, four, or five records here, which is awesome. that I can make in Pro Tools. I can’t edit the way
community, they’ll say, “I’m going to move to L.A.” Dom and I will bring bands in and ask them, “Okay, that they need things edited. When the record-
It’s not that far away. what’s your goal? Give us some examples.” We talk to making process went in-the-box is when I stopped
I don’t blame them. Since I got into this in 2005, the them about what they’re trying to achieve. working as much. I started managing the studio
bands are not that much better or well-known than It’s good to have that discussion and do more, and we built the B Room. I was also doing a
they were 14 years ago. The focus has shifted over that properly. We all need to find a lot of tech work and soldering. But, at the end of
the years from trying to make the scene and the way to be invested. the day, I got into doing this because I wanted to
community better to making us better. “How are we You have to be. This is a people business. All of this gear make records, not because I wanted to build rooms.
going to become better engineers? How are we going is cool and shit, but at the end of the day the I had a client, a lead guy in a band, who changed
to grow in a community that’s tough to grow in?” It’s relationships you have with your clients are way, way the way I thought about making records. He
tough to be a good engineer when you don’t have more important. You’re providing a service to inspired me in a way that pushed me into seeing,
good ingredients. somebody who, regardless of that talent level, is hearing, and experiencing things differently. He
Great music, great artists, and great vulnerable. Someone going into a studio has to be passed away, and that sucks. You almost don’t want
bands make us look good. comfortable. They’re singing, and it’s a vulnerable to make records for a while after that.
I know that exact feeling.

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They do. If you have a good band and put the right thing for them. It’s art. I’m going to make a much
mics up, at the end of the day it’s not tough. better record with a musician who’s comfortable I know you know that feeling. I went through that. I

When you get musicians in here like Eric
Bachmann [Tape Op #128] and Jon Rauhouse, it’s
not hard to make a great record.
They’ve been in studios before.
So many times. For engineers to grow, what we need are
more experiences like that. When you find that you’re
using shit gear and shit mics than I am with a
musician who is watching the clock or feels the
lighting is off. That’s another reason why I’ve always
felt weird about making records on the computer. I’m
not looking at my client at all. They have no idea
what I’m doing!
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needed to take a step back and let other people run
some shit for a while. I didn’t work for a year.
What are the ways you can stay busy and
diversified with business here?
We do tape transfers, which I’ve been trying to push.
There’s nothing that makes me happier nowadays

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spending more time editing, tuning, and comping You could be checking Facebook. than getting some weird tapes in the mail and

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than you are tracking the record, you’re not getting Yeah. If I hit play on a 24-track, 2-inch tape machine, hitting play on something that nobody’s heard in 30
much out of that. We had to make this organic they’re saying, “Oh, fuck! The tape is moving!” years. Sometimes it’s speed metal. We got some
transition to, “Maybe we’re going to say “No” to There’s this weird thing now; two vocal takes [into crazy ‘80s reggae tapes from Tuff Gong. I hit play,
some bands.” We’re starting to say, “The record you the computer] and you’re done. “I’m going to go and I’m archiving something for somebody. That
want to make is not a record that’s going to be cost-
effective for you to make right now.” I don’t feel bad I like coaching singers.
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make a vocal take.” I hate making records that way.

about saying that. I don’t want to bleed local bands I love coaching. The best part of making records is when
dry of money when I can sit with them for half an
hour and say, “These are some things you could work
on.” If they want help with preproduction or
arrangements, we’re happy to do that. Have them
you hit that stride with a musician in the studio
where you don’t really have to communicate, and you
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know what they need. I have this fear that we’re
going to lose that in this industry. We won’t, but...
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means they’re excited about it. A sense of wonder
happens when you hit play. I’ve been getting into
doing tape transfers and learning about it. It’s
another source of revenue.
Do you do tape baking? Do you have the
food dehydrator?
We do. The “industry secret.” I love that kind of shit.

come back in and make a great record. Putting out
records that aren’t good...
It doesn’t do anyone any good.
Plus, you’ll have the time. With a new, young band
When kids can grow up watching YouTube videos,
there’s a sense of wonder missing. Anything that
they’re looking to access, they can access
immediately. There is no wait time anymore. We don’t
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And you teach recording?
Yeah. I teach four days a month at The Conservatory of
Recording Arts and Sciences. Actually I should say, “I
taught.” I recently put in my notice. I’m too busy. I

they’ll say, “We want to make a full-length record and
we’ve got $1,500.” I cannot make a good record for
that amount of money. There’s no way.
Unless it’s bashed out fast.
Yeah, but we can’t bash it out fast because we’d have to
t)
have to wait for the tape to rewind. Everybody wants
things “right now.”
I will tell people in sessions, “Let me set
the pace. I’ve done this for years.
Follow my lead.”
taught a couple of commercial production classes. I
did teach a soldering class, which I fucking loved.
It’s one thing I feel I know how to do well. When I
teach, I’m no different. I’m just as weird and
awkward, and I’m sure I cuss just as much! I did a

do editing. When I was younger I used to have a Totally. I think that’s a thing we end up doing cable wrapping class, and a tape machine remote
tough time saying, “No,” so we would do it. We organically. Every studio’s going to have a different class. I know way more than I ever wanted to know
would work 24-hours straight, and at the end we pace. Everybody works differently. about the Otari MTR-90.
(a

would not be totally happy with the results. We’ve There are 24-track tape decks and What were the main things you were
transitioned into not doing that anymore. “Let’s do a consoles in both rooms here. I would able to design with the newer B Room
single or a couple of good tunes.” To keep the doors think, in this climate these days, that you regret not doing before in
open in this market, I try and work with each band you might set up one room that’s just the A Room?
individually. We bring new bands in for walkthroughs. a computer? The A Room was a preexisting house, so we had to work
I want to meet people and see if they feel Oh, in this climate these days we don’t need a tape within the walls that we had. To knock the ceiling
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comfortable in the space. I would much rather send machine at all! I don’t want to say, “Oh, it’s all out was way over our budget. We did the absolute
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a band to another studio to make a record than have
them be here and feel uncomfortable and unhappy.
It doesn’t do anybody any good.
If they have other expectations or
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about tape, and analog’s better than digital.” It’s best we could with what we had. But with the B
not about that. It’s just that I miss that connection Room we had unlimited space, height, and depth,
I had to the experience of making records. At this until the city said, “No.”
place, everything’s hybrid. I don’t have to turn This was new construction added onto

needs... computers on to make records in this room, which the house.

Ms. Vericolli/(continued on page 16)/Tape Op#131/15
 It was. We wanted a bigger, deeper room. It was an
opportunity to not have as many of the same frustrations.
If you’re in a situation where you can go get material,
you’re handy, and you’ve got tools, it’s a different monster
than telling a construction company – who’s never built
absorption traps on the ceiling at a 38 degree angle – that
that’s what you want, and it needs to look good. They’re
saying, “What? This is insane!” It’s about finding the right
people. Consumers have access to such great room
technology now. I was able to find the right guys to soffit
mount those giant ADAM [S4X-V] monitors.
How do you utilize the two rooms? Does the
B Room have an isolation booth?
It doesn’t, but we’ve got tie lines, which are cool. I love
tracking drums in there.
In the control room?
Yeah. We’ll move the chairs and push the rack back a little bit.
It sounds good. We can utilize that room for pretty much
anything we want. The B Room started out as a mixing
suite. It was exclusively that for years when we were busy.
That was the first time where I was thinking, “We’re growing
up now, and we need to find different avenues of revenue.”
That was going to be a freelance rental room. No way was
anybody going to come in and mix a record in the A Room,
unless they knew the 700 weird, fucked up bugs in our
broken Neotek console; an old Series IIIc. With
rental/freelance clients, the A Room would have been
tough. For the B Room, we built it super plug-and-play.
“Bring your own gear? Sweet. Here’s a bunch of shit you can
plug into.” I wired it that way. We also have headphone and
tie lines that go [between the rooms]. When we’re doing the
Phoenix Afrobeat Orchestra, there are 18 of them and we’re
(d
tracking live to 2-inch tape. We’ll have horns in the living
room and an amp in the shower in the bathroom; there are
headphone outs and an XLR input in there. We’ve got singers
in the B Room. We’ve got a whole Skype system so
everybody can see everybody, and we’ve got two headphone
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systems because we can’t run that many boxes off one amp.
We make it work. Those records are weird and cool.
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Iwaslisteningtosomeofthat.Livinginthisspace There’s not a big engineering community here. I have a lot
withsessionsgoingonthatyou’refrequently of wonderful friends in these great communities in
not helming, does that ever create problems Nashville, Los Angeles, and New York. I feel at home
with it being your living space?
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there, and can have these conversations and geek out
That’s an awesome question. After so many years of doing
it, it just is. That’s the best way for me to describe it. If
it’s a bad band or a loud guitar – which definitely
happens – there are moments of, “Oh, my god, I cannot
hear this guitar riff again.” But I’ve gotten used to it.
t)
Do you take off and go work out of
coffee shops?
I got good at tuning it out. I’m kind of a kid at heart, and
(a
I love music. If I’m taking a shower and it’s like there’s a
drummer in the shower, it’s awesome! This is a weird,
awesome life. But not everybody feels that way. Partners “You already run sessions!”
or roommates; that can be tough.
Have you had roommates here?
Dominic lived and worked here for a while. At first it was a
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good idea, and then he decided to get out of here. For me,
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it’s a lot different because this is something I’ve built. I
don’t always live here. I’m here half the year nowadays.
You’ve been in a relationship
with mastering engineer Piper Payne
mp
for a few years now.
16/Tape Op#131/Ms. Vericolli/(Fin.)
Rupert Neve Designs 5088 console
The decision to buy this console involved a lot of things. We
went from having an old Neotek that had a lot of issues.
Maintenance is a huge problem, especially here. It changes
the decisions that we have been making over the years about
gear we purchased. But when we went into the decision-
making process of trying to replace the console, we were not
buying something used. In our price range, there was an
[API] 1608, a 5088, and so on. Everything on this console;
it’s hard to explain, but it’s super deliberate. When you mute
something, it’s in a new dimension of mute. It’s gone! The
quality on this is something that you can feel and hear. It’s
such a small company. Everything from the sales department,
to people who answer the phones, to the technical people –
there’s that amazing, family feel about it. They’re wonderful
people. That was what sold us; it was the company.
I’ve never dated somebody who was in the industry, ever.
Now I date a well-known mastering engineer.
m
Do you ever send her work?
All the time. But then, very rarely, do I like the first master.
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She gets it. She’s working all the time. She’s probably
working while she’s sleeping! I don’t ever want to be a
mastering engineer. Here’s the cool thing: The rooms here
are up to par enough that she can work when she’s here.
We’re both in the business. It’s kinda weird being with
)
somebody who’s well-known in the industry. People
mistake us for each other, even though she’s way taller.
ot
Really? Huh?
Sometimes I get mistaken for Piper Payne, and I’ll answer
mastering questions, even though I shouldn’t! We have
a lot of mutual friends. It’s also cool because we don’t
live in the same city. A lot of the time we spend together
is at NAMM Shows! I travel a lot, and do a lot of panels.
We’re taking on the industry from two different sides. For
us I think it’s a learning experience.
How does that fit into being a studio owner,
your growth, and keeping you
interested in all of this?
about gear, or even talk about life. It’s awesome to be
part of that community. I grew up in Phoenix and opened
a studio here. I figured out how to do all this on my own.
When you’re in a market like Phoenix, what you don’t
have is a shit ton of mentors. There was never a mentor
opportunity for me. That’s the biggest regret I have in my
career. It’s something I crave now, but I’m 37. I’ve had
these conversations with some of my friends in Nashville.
“Let me get some coffee and come sit in.” They look at
me like I’m fucking nuts!
But this is what I need! I’ve done enough to not be an
assistant. Give me a studio to run and I can do that, no
problem. I’ve been trying to travel, figure out where my
heart sits, and pursue that. Now the studio kind of runs
itself. It’s given my staff an opportunity to take the reins.
Dominic Armstrong has done a great job at that. We have
some great guest engineers. We’re one of those places
that is super “the door is open” to guests. r
<513recording.com>
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 Long before I even dreamed of professionally recording or starting a
magazine like Tape Op, I was a huge fan of the band Dead Can Dance.
Formed by Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard in Australia in 1981, the band
soon morphed from post punk to creating beautiful, ethereal sounds
drawn from ethnic music all over the world, as well as other sonic journeys
of their own creation. Their recent album, Dionysus, was recorded entirely
by Brendan at his private studio in France, as well as their five previous
albums. I was excited for the chance to talk with Brendan about his
recordings. I was also surprised to learn about some of his working
methods and modest equipment choices over the years.

You’ve relocated to France?

Yeah, about three years ago we up and left Ireland with the family and a menagerie of animals,
and crossed the sea to France.
Did you sell your old church studio, the Quivvy Church, around
that time?

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Well, it’s still for sale actually. A couple of potential sales fell through. It’s still on the market.

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I’ve got a new studio here now.
Right, that’s Ker Landelle?
It’s an old stone barn that I converted.
Are you living on the same property?
Yeah. It’s like a collection of houses and buildings. It’s actually an old farm that was converted
with some land, some woods, and a big garden.

)
Brendan Perry You had Quivvy Church for 25 years. I didn’t quite realize how
much of the recording of Dead Can Dance had been done on your

Recording Dead Can Dance
by Larry Crane
photos by Stephanie Füssenich
& Vaughan Stedman
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own, and in that space.
And two solo albums, too. I did Eye of the Hunter and Ark there as well.
What led you to having your own space and recording setup, as far
(d
as the process and the creativity?
The first three albums we did in professional commercial studios. We got to a point where the
technology was so good. I was using sequencers and a secondhand reel-to-reel 8-track. A large
part of the budget was actually going into recording those albums. I just saw this opportunity,
so I said to Ivo [Watts-Russell] at 4AD [Records], “Why don’t you give us the budget you’d give
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to a recording studio, and we’ll invest it in our own studio and start delivering albums that
way.” Basically I wanted to cut out the middle man. That way we’d obviously have more control,
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and more studio time. More importantly, right at the beginning we weren’t seeing any money
coming through for record sales. Getting our money back – seeing that come through really
quickly – was much more empowering for us rather than waiting for the initial production debt
to clear. So, in that belief we put more and more money aside from the money we’d earned on
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each album; we also improved the studio and eventually the studio space itself.
You mentioned using an 8-track and sequencers. What was the
trajectory of technology you were dealing with? A home studio
was not as easy to do 25 years ago as it is right now.
Yeah. There was no access to automation or anything like that – all mixes were done manually.
t)

On the digital technology, that front was really coming through and becoming affordable.
There were so many formats we experimented with, some weird formats that were kind of
aimed at the home recording market. Initially we were using Commodore 64 sequencing.
We had that slaved to the very first sampler, an Ensoniq Mirage. Then we would get into
(a

the AKAI series, from the S-600 on. That would all be slaved with a mixing desk so that
the sequencing would handle quite a few tracks in its own right. Then we would use the 8-
track with a sync on one of the tracks.
Right, SMPTE?
Yeah, exactly. We’d be able to sync the Commodore 64. That meant we had the seven tracks
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available, as well as an eighth track purely for sync audio. We could run all the sequential
sampler stuff independently, without having to commit it to tape. It was really empowering.
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We went from that to the AKAI format. I think it was the 12-track, with the old Betamax
tapes. Remember them?
Yes. That’s the one that pops its head up occasionally here and
mp

there in interviews.
18/Tape Op#131/Mr. Perry/(continued on page 20)
mp
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 It didn’t last long. It was pretty harsh sounding. We
pretty much tried every format we could. The more
money we got that came into the equation, the more
we upgraded and got better gear.
Did you move into tape-based digital,
ADATs or DA-88s, at some point?
Yeah, Spirit Chaser was on ADAT. Into the Labyrinth was
an interesting one. We did it on a 16-track 1/2-inch;
a TEAC [80-8], which had dbx [noise reduction]. It
sounds like a lot, 16 tracks on 1/2-inch, but the
sound was really good. We did Into the Labyrinth on
that, and it even won a few hi-fi audio awards! The
way I’ve worked all along was to record the sequential
sampler parts live through the desk. I never, ever
“recorded” it.
Oh, right. Yeah.
So, anybody who’s thinking about doing any kind of
mashes or mixups of Dead Can Dance can forget it,
because there’s no multitrack in existence, which has
everything on it. It’s kind of nice, in a way. I come
from that kind of school of, “When it’s done, it’s
finished. It’s a work of art. Throw away the template.
That’s it.” That’s the definitive version, and there
shouldn’t be any other version, really.
When you describe some of the
technology used, it sounds like you’d
be making a Depeche Mode-sounding
record. However, you were making
music that was hybrid but feels very
organic-sounding.
Yeah. When it’s sample-based, as opposed to real
recordings and instruments, I try to energize the
samples and make them more analog-sounding. To Yeah. Because of the kind of spaces, and because I work
do that I use a lot of psychoacoustic types of
interfaces, like [Aphex] Aural Exciters. I try to
manipulate the samples so that they breathe more,
as well as exploring the dynamics of them so that
they become more harmonically interesting as they
change over time.
Right, to keep from becoming too static
or repetitive.
Exactly. It’s a real art to get in there and work with
them. There are so many elements. If I’ve got a cello
spread across so many octaves, I’ll find that if I’m
trying to emulate a real cellist that certain notes
aren’t actually expressing the right sound at a given
time. I’ve got to get in and use LFOs for that
particular note so that I can tweak it, all dependent
t)
on what I’ve written. That’s the relationship.
It sounds like a meticulous process.
It is, but it’s worth it because it’s an education in itself.
(a
I’m pushing the creative boundaries all the time of I’m working with Logic Pro. Actually, Dionysus is the first
what I can do with sampling technology.
Right. Is the process for your new album,
Dionysus, still using a lot of samples?
Yeah. The biggest revelation to me for this album has
been working with vocal sound libraries based on
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choral groups. They have these new engines built into
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them that are fantastic. They’re called Syllabuilders;
basically a directory of syllables. You have hundreds
of these syllables you can actually put together in Have you used the Ocean Way Studios
sentences, phrases, and words. It’s very creative. All
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these syllables are sung by a range of large groups to
20/Tape Op#131/Mr. Perry/(continued on page 22)
just soloists. You can write your own phrases, and Yeah, I tried it one time. I’m more into natural plate
then you can play them polyphonically. You have a reverbs. Actually the reverb I’m using a lot on it is the
whole group harmonizing with each other, singing Lexicon 224. I really like it, and I’m using it live as
your words basically. It’s really powerful. It’s been a well. I like those old-school big plate reverbs; the big
real revelation, working on this album. I wanted a ‘60s wall of sound-like vibe. Like The Righteous
collective chorus. It was never going to be song- Brothers or Scott Walker; that dark plate ambience.
driven by soloists. It was always going to be a Are you using a real Lexicon, like an
collective group, like a commentary of singers that outboard one, or using plug-ins at
were commenting on the proceedings or developing this point?
change, intended for trance or what have you. Yeah, I’ve got two Lexicon model 200s, but they’re old.
How did you decide that this would be a I’ve got a weird little high-frequency noise that’s
Dead Can Dance record versus a coming into one of them. In the past, I always had
Brendan solo record? to ship them back to America to get them fixed by a
Well, I decided on DCD because I wanted Lisa to be guy in the middle of nowhere, near Boston. It’s really
involved, and I thought it was time we made another hard to find a lot of the parts now. I bought a couple
album. We probably would have gotten to it sooner, old ones off eBay just to cannibalize the parts. I love
but after the last album we were on a world tour for the sound of those so much.
about one and a half years. The whole process of Have you ever had a real plate reverb of
moving and having to build a new studio; I couldn’t your own, like an EMT?
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start work on a new album until two years ago. That’s No, never.
usually how long it takes; one and a half to two years. I thought you’d be searching for gear
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When the time came, I thought it would be perfect like that.
working with Lisa on this. It was definitely going to I did a classical recording, my first for Sony Classical in
be a Dead Can Dance album, but also our first-ever Paris, in this old-school studio where Jacques Brel
concept album working together. and other people like that used to record. They’ve got
There are a lot of unusual instruments two rooms, with two plate reverbs. It was the first
being used from all over the world.
)
time I’d gone in and actually seen one. The closest
How did you start learning how to I’ve come is the Waves Abbey Road Reverb Plates
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place microphones and get the plug-ins. They’re really, really interesting.
sounds of all this? I assume that I figure for someone who’s so into
happened when you started running reverbs, there’s now such a plethora
the Quivvy Church. of plug-ins to search through for
(d different sounds.
alone – I don’t have an engineer – I haven’t been Yeah, they are getting better. They’re certainly improving.
able to really explore space or mic setups in a On some of your records there have been
classical way. I tend to close mic instruments, and I bird calls or morphed animal sounds
use effects. I use a lot of reverb, as you’ve probably that are hard to define. How did that
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noticed. Really very few instruments escape the enter your music, and how do you
reverb process. I like to suck up as much tone and create some of those sounds?
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have as much edge to the recordings as possible, Dionysus is essentially a nature deity. It’s really
knowing that down the line I can filter out certain concerned with this primal, natural energy. It’s a
frequencies and reduce sounds. As you probably celebration of nature, in that respect. I felt like it
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know, when you try to add bite on tracks that isn’t would be nice to introduce these elemental
there, it starts to sound very digital and hard. I like soundscapes, obviously with wind, rain, and running
to soak up as much of the sound as possible. Then I water, but done with instruments that actually
treat it and give it its own ambience accordingly, emulated and mimicked them, like, for instance, a
rather than use the room sound or the microphone rain stick from Colombia. It sounds like running
setup to get that. water. I’ve also got this Mexican death whistle shaped
I assume you’re using a digital audio like a skull. It’s all pretty much white noise, but you
workstation. What are you working can play with the harmonics so that it sounds like
with these days? wind blowing through trees. There are those
emulations, and then I also have a collection of
album that I’ve totally recorded in Logic. The previous Brazilian rosewood bird whistles that have little
album, Anastasis, I did in Pro Tools. I still have the springs and levers on them. They’re designed so that
Pro Tools system there. To be honest, I really couldn’t you can mimic and imitate different types of birds.
tell the difference. I’m using the Apollo, the Universal These ones were actually developed and sold to
Audio interfaces. The plug-ins for that are fantastic. I professional hunters who would go out into the
thought, “Well, I might as well make the leap now.” Amazon and would collect certain parrot species, for
This seems to be where it’s going. I was really happy instance. They’d capture them live and then bring
with the quality. them to market. There’s a bit of a sinister context to
some of them, but I love the sound of them. And the
reverb in the [Universal Audio] fact that humans are celebrating nature. It’s
UAD system? wonderful that they’re actually celebrating by trying
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 to communicate with animals, in that respect. Mixed I have a good few. I also have quite an extensive sound
with field recordings of the sea, insects, and various
other animals like goats and bells, I felt it was really
important as a bridging mechanism.
Are the field recordings ones that you
captured?
No, the web is just a wonderful resource. There are lots For your rhythm beds, would you start
of wonderful websites with enthusiasts from all
around the world, some of them using Nagras with
really expensive mics, and others on smartphones
recording these natural environments and posting Yeah, usually. I have percussion templates, and I actually
them, copyright-free generally. I was looking for bees.
I eventually chose a hive that was actually just a
couple of miles away from where I used to live in New
Zealand, up in the rain forest. I had to listen to about
60 different ones before I found the right one. But it’s
great, all these wonderful field recordings are out
there. You can bring the whole world into your living
room without having to leave it. It’s just your
imagination that helps you travel, in that respect.
It’s really difficult to capture a field
recording of only what you’re trying
to focus on as well.
Yeah, very difficult. It’s a real art, in itself. It’s there to Instead of your regular polkas and tango beats, it’s got
lend a kind of dramatic ambience so that it makes the
listener feel like they’re actually outside and in
nature, as opposed to an internal ambience.
How did you sketch out Dionysus, as far I’ve never heard of this!
as being thematic? Yeah, it’s fantastic, especially the quarter-tone sounds.
There were various inroads into working on it. For
instance, using the sea sound, where you can hear the
waves at the very beginning, the movement “Sea
Borne,” you can hear that happening. Then you can
hear this old ship. You know it’s an old ship because
you can hear the wood creaking, and you can hear
the ropes tightening. That really was the inspiration.
There’s a rhythm that happens with each successive
wave that comes in. I was building rhythm from that.
One of the main foundations for the album really was I always felt that what opened up a door
rhythm. There are a lot of rhythm tracks. I build a lot
of the pieces from a rhythmic basis, primarily because
rhythm and dance is a very important part of
Dionysian practice. They use that with chance in
order to achieve what is called extasis, which is
ecstasy, to go into a trance and have an out-of-body
experience. I felt that rhythm was an essential motif
that had to drive the album along. The drones came from a study of Baroque music I did. I
And then you work top lines, vocals, or
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other instruments around the
rhythms as you write?
Yeah, the rock bed of instruments I chose were traditional
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folk instruments from the Mediterranean region, from
the Black Sea, the Balkans, and Turkey, as well as
isolated instruments from Slovakia and Sardinia,
Corsica, and some from North Africa. These instruments,
as well as the wind instruments, percussion, and
stringed instruments have really old pedigrees that go
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back into the mists of time. They haven’t changed for
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hundreds of years. I felt it was important to have that
link, the archaic link into the past.
Have you collected all these
instruments? I’m trying to imagine
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your studio full of wild instruments.
22/Tape Op#131/Mr. Perry/(continued on page 24)
library that I’ve accrued over the last 30-odd years.
Yeah, it’s a balance between using real instruments
where I can – like some of the flute sounds, bird
whistles, drums, and percussion – and from my
sample libraries.
with a loop and then add more organic
parts, as well as non-organic things
onto the percussion to build it up?
play them in with a keyboard for a lot of these rhythms.
I’ll put together a template of what I think is a really
interesting combination of percussion sounds. There
was one really important addition to my sonic arsenal
for this album. You know these performer-player
keyboards, where you wander into a hotel lobby and
someone’s got this big organ setup with drum
machines all going into these speakers? I bought one
from Yamaha, which is a version that’s sold to the
North African and Middle Eastern markets [PSR-A30].
It’s got quarter-tone scales, and you can choose which
notes are going to be quarter tones or what have you.
all these amazing Middle Eastern rhythms; whole
families of rhythms from Azerbaijan, to Morocco, to
Balkan. Incredible! It was a great resource.
I can really make these instruments sound authentic.
I used the combination of that and my sample
libraries for the rhythmic beds. I play them in by
hand, freeform, and they turn into 5/4 or 7/8 odd
time signatures. Then I’d loop them. The next stage
is usually the bass parts, where it’s low wind parts,
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low organs, or strings. That’s generally the way I
work. Songs are either percussion-based at the
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beginning, or I start with just the bass parts.
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for you was being able to have a string
sample that held a note for an
unnaturally long time, where you’d
hold a drone and build against that.
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Did that change with sampling
technology, and did it influence the
way you were writing and creating?
read a book by Johann Joseph Fux called Steps to
Parnassus [Gradus ad Parnassum]. It taught me
counterpoint. It’s heavily based on this principle of
using pedals, because this music was originally
written for organs. They had this music theory that
related to the pedal notes. As a bass player previous
to this, in punk bands and what have you, I tend to
write from the bass as well, if it’s not percussion. I
really identified with that approach. A lot of Baroque
composers wrote from the bass up, which was a
revelation to me. Of course, playing these bass pedal
notes meant that then the harmonization is the next
stage and goes over the top of that. I found that you
could be really inventive by just having the one note
and then exploring all the possible harmonization you
could do above that. That’s one part of where that
came from. Also listening to troubadour, and early
music where they used to use a lot of drones, like
hurdy-gurdies and instruments like that. There’s
something incessant that casts an almost hypnotic,
trance-like quality when you have an element that
holds its presence continually and draws you back
continually to it. We discovered it has a weird,
discombobulated, disembodied effect on the listener.
But being able to take samples and
loops, and meld them together so you
don’t hear a beginning and end
created new sounds.
Yeah. And live, it’s even more impressive when you’re
using it with a big system, with all those sub-bass
frequencies. The audience really feels it. That’s the
way I want to hear music. That’s a contradiction. I
want to feel it. I really want to feel it in a live
context. Bass is my go-to. Exploring the bottom end
is very important.
When I saw Dead Can Dance live during
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the Into the Labyrinth era, the sound
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was impeccable. Do you make sure
you’ve got a front-of-house engineer
who’s absolutely engaged and work
them into the fold?
Yeah. We’ve always regarded the front-of-house engineer
as the n-th member of the band. They’re such an
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integral part of the music-making that we have to
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have that attitude. We also spend an inordinate
amount of time sound checking. Every venue is
different. Unless you have the luxury of working with
the same sound system on the road, then you have to
spend a lot of time tuning your sound into the room.
You also have to respond to the limitations and see
what the room can offer, maybe in a positive way or a
negative way. That all takes time. We also have
engineers who are used to working long hours, like us.
Ones who can stay a bit obsessive for you.
Yeah, exactly. We have those nerdy, obsessive types
running front-of-house who never get bored, or
tired, or fatigued.
Your second and third records, Spleen
and Ideal and Within the Realm of a
Dying Sun, were done with John A.
Rivers co-producing. They really set
the sound and vibe that you carried
on with. What were the sessions like
working with John? He’s worked with
Eyeless in Gaza, Felt, and Love and
Rockets.
Yeah, and The Specials’ “Ghost Town.”
Oh, I love that song.
Yeah. We were quite bitterly disappointed with the first
album [Dead Can Dance]. We only had two weeks to
do it all, and we had an engineer who was totally
impossible to work with. He was just really unhelpful
and it was a really unpleasant experience. The results
bear witness to that, which is a shame, because there
were a lot of good songs on that album. For the next
album, we stipulated that we wanted to work with
someone we liked, in a studio we liked. We drove
‘round – me and James Pinker, who was playing
percussion with us at the time – and we visited about
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 four studios. We wanted to do it outside of London in the
countryside, where there were no distractions so that we
could be very focused. We went to John’s studio [Woodbine
Street Studios], and we really liked it. We talked to him in this
really nice studio, in the basement of this old, three-story
Victorian house. We really got on well with the engineer
[Jonathan Dee] because he was into classical music. We’d
taken a big left turn from the first album, which was a post-
punk album, into this neo-Baroque world that we wanted to
explore. Having Jonathan engineer there was just great. He
had an ear and a sensibility for classical music. We also
imported some people. We actually had six string players,
some wind players, a trombonist, and we rented timpani. We
went for it, but a lot of it was self-taught. We found a home
away from home working at that place. It was really nice. The
boarding house where we stayed was run by this wonderful
old eccentric English guy who made the best breakfast and
dinner. We became friends of the family; him and his mother.
It was lovely.
You’ve kept a tradition of not recording in

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the city centers with your own personal

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studios. Does working somewhere rural
feel good to you?
It does. I’m more of a country boy at heart. I don’t really like
cities that much, to be honest. Most cities are very polluted
and noisy, with too many people living in small spaces
pretending they’re happy to be doing that. I can work from

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anywhere now. I can choose where I want to live, which is a

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nice luxury to avail of. It’s funny though. I was talking earlier
about when we had enough money, we approached 4AD to
give us the next recording budget. We were living on the 13th
floor of a high-rise near the center of London, right on the

(d river Thames. We did The Serpent’s Egg in our bedroom, but at

least we had a view! We were living in this concrete jungle,
but we had a view from the 13th floor; this eagle’s nest in the
sky. But Lisa moved to Barcelona after that, and I moved over
to Ireland and took the studio with me there.
l
It seems like it was a pretty interesting
location there in Ireland.
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Yeah, it’s beautiful. A quite remote area, and it’s right on the
border of northern Ireland in the Lake District. It’s quite
stunning. r
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<www.deadcandance.com>
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Tape Op is made
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advertisers.
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Please support them and tell them

you saw their ad in Tape Op.
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24/Tape Op#131/Mr. Perry/(Fin.)

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Please Support Our Advertisers/Tape Op#131/25

Michael Brauer
The Emotion of a Mix We first met esteemed mix engineer Michael Brauer in Tape Op #37 in 2003, when
interview and portrait by Larry Crane Mike Caffrey interviewed him about his multi-bus mixing technique. Some 16 years later
Michael and I sat down at his new space, BrauerSound Studios, to discuss his career path
and unique mixing techniques. He’s crossed genres frequently, working as a mixer on
projects by artists as varied as Luther Vandross, Aretha Franklin, the Rolling Stones,
Tony Bennett, Coldplay, John Mayer, Calle 13, Angélique Kidjo, Phoenix, Bon Jovi, M. Ward,
Grandaddy [Tape Op #7], Caveman, James Bay, and Grizzly Bear.

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26/Tape Op#131/Mr. Brauer/(continued on page 28)

I realized that I’ve never known how
you got your start in this business.
The start is always because of one particular record.
Until then, you’re just slaving away. Suddenly, one
day a record comes out and you become successful,
and people say, “Who is that?” For me it was kind of
a slow ramp. I was at MediaSound; I got hired there
in ‘76. I went from intern to head of the interns in
the shipping department, and then assistant, within
a year. Then I was staff engineer within two years.
Back then, it really wasn’t a stretch. You could
become a staff engineer in a studio that had three
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rooms, with six or seven senior engineers. They had When I interviewed Tony Bongiovi [Tape
senior engineers and assistants, and eventually the
assistants would move up into the engineering Bob Clearmountain [#129, #84] went from intern to
positions. That studio was well known for R&B.
Who was managing it back then?
It was managed by Susan Planer, a woman we all
loved dearly who passed away. And it was owned
by John Roberts, Joel Rosenman, Bob Walters,
and Harry Hirsch. John and Joel financed
Woodstock. They needed a place to mix the show
[movie and album], so they opened this studio
called MediaSound.
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Op #127], he talked about mixing it.
assistant engineer right away. He was one of the
early ones there to be mixing. It was an incredible
group of people. The success rate of the engineers
that came out of that studio is really quite
impressive. I was doing a lot of records. During the
day, we’d be recording commercials. You couldn’t
make any records during the day, because all the
musicians were getting paid double and triple scale
[on commercials]. Between nine and five is when
we’d be recording and mixing. Two days later, you’d
hear it on the radio. From six o’clock to two o’clock,
we’d be making records. We’d be doing double shifts,
seven days a week. I don’t remember what a
weekend felt like. It didn’t matter. I started late
when I got hired there; I was 25. I’d been on the
road with a band, and I didn’t want that kind of life.
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I’d been out of college for a couple of years. You
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learn by starting to do overdubs. I started by
recording Sesame Street. You had to start off being
able to do Sesame Street, because it was all live; a
room of ten musicians going right to 4-track and
mono. Everything was done at the same time, and it
was done live. That’s how you really cut your teeth.
)
Fred Christie was the senior engineer who mentored
me and many others. Eventually there was a lot of
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R&B coming in. I was working with Luther Vandross
during the day. He was the top jingle singer at the
time. He was doing all the main ads; McDonalds,
Coca-Cola, you name it. He was the lead on that.
He could just nail it?
He was beyond belief. There was the same group of
background singers for all these dates. You saw them
day and night. Same with these musicians. You’d see
Will Lee in the day and again at night. You’d see Paul
Shaffer, Allan Schwartzberg, and Bob Babbitt when
he moved from Motown. Great musicians. The list
goes on and on. I think I was one of the first to
record Marcus Miller at Media when he was first
breaking out. And great, great arrangers. It was just
a wealth of beautiful, great music. We were doing
record after record, day-in-day-out. It was mostly
R&B. Van McCoy was there for a time. Fatback Band.
Tony Bongiovi was doing all the big Motown and
funk. Then one day this Italian producer, [Jacques]
Fred Petrus, was producing this new act in the studio.
It was just a band; they didn’t have a name. If they
became successful, then they’d put a band together.
They were at Power Station, and they were having a
tough time getting the right mix and couldn’t find
the right vocalist either. Yvonne Lewis, the vocal
contractor there was a good friend of mine, because
I would see her at work twice a day. She really liked
how I worked. She recommended that they come to
MediaSound, and that I record and mix the next
batch of singers. It was Luther Vandross. He was
holding onto the lyrics of “The Glow of Love” and
“Searching,” and we ran it down in the studio for a
minute. He goes, “Okay.” He walks out into the studio
and he’s literally holding it [the paper] and singing.
That was the pass, on both “The Glow of Love” and
 “Searching.” It was crazy good. Then I mixed it, and
they loved the mix. From that point on, I was doing
everything for the band, Change. I went to Italy to do
The B.B.&Q. Band [Brooklyn, Bronx, & Queens Band]
on [Fred’s] Little Macho Music. It was just on and on
with Fred. That is how Luther – hearing what I had
done in recording and mixing the Change record –
asked me to record and mix his own album. He was
doing it on the weekends. We’d do two songs a
weekend, and then three and four.
He was paying out of pocket?
Yeah. He was paying for the whole thing. I think he was
shopping it around, but nobody was really interested
at the time. Finally, he found Arista [Records]. Of
course, his song, “Never Too Much,” came out, and
boom! That was really the beginning for me. I’d
already heard a couple of things I’d done on the
radio, but this was it. This was the first record that I
completely mixed and recorded, from soup to nuts. Of
each different style. I was in no rush. I had my hand get-go, was mixing. It was something that came
in production for a couple years, when I was spending naturally to me. But it didn’t come around easily. I
a lot of time in England, but it didn’t feel natural to didn’t hear compression for the first two years I was
me. I wasn’t a songwriter, and I had felt that a great at MediaSound. Engineers would be like, “Give me the
producer needs to be a songwriter. Otherwise you [Teletronix] LA-2A. Wait, give me the [Urei] 1176
need to be dependent on a self-sufficient band who instead.” I’d be like, “Who cares? I can’t hear any
knows how to fix their own stuff and write their own difference between the two of those.” That’s not a
bridge. The best I can be was always dependent on good sign, is it?
that. The great producers I work with are either You’ve got to train yourself to hear
helping write, or rewriting, the lyrics. compression.
Someone like Arif Mardin who could When you’re in there day-in-day-out, one day you hear
do charts. the difference. “Good, I’ll have a career in this!” There
Exactly. If I really wanted to be at the top of my game, was something about mixing. I was in a band for two
I’d never get there that way. I’ve never written a song years on the road, and I really missed the feeling of
in my life, and it’s never going to happen. On the being in the band. There’s nothing better than being
other hand, I really loved to mix. I did a couple of on stage with a crowd who’s loving you and you’re
years of production, and finally said, “Okay, enough playing as one. The show’s great. We were just a cover
of that.” I could see the writing on the wall. I used band, but it felt great. I missed that part, but I knew
to love recording – the basics, the rhythm section, I had to leave that life. I actually imagined in my

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all the records that have come out, it’s still one of my the horns and strings – but my love, almost from the head – because I missed it so much – that when I was

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favorites. It just feels timeless. Luther was a rising
star. David Bowie had used him for Young Americans,
but here he comes out on his own and he’s singing
like no one else. No one was doing that style. Right
around that time, I was also working for Robert
Wright, who was with RCA [Records]. I was doing a

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lot of remixing, like remixing the Hall & Oates singles,

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“I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do),” “Your
Imagination,” and “One on One.” Those were
becoming very successful.
Were those mixes made for radio?
Yeah. That’s what you’d hear on the radio. They were
R&B, but they’d also move over to the pop charts. I
did two or three of those. Word started getting out
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because of the success of those records. There was a
point where I got a call to mix a couple of songs for
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the Rolling Stones on Steel Wheels. Then I ended up
mixing almost the entire album at Olympic Studios,
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where they had all their big hits.

That was a really great room.
And a really great experience! So, it started with R&B
and it went to rock with an R&B base with the Stones.
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That’s all R&B, but then I started moving more

towards rock. I wanted to spend five or six years on
Above: MB, Aretha
Franklin, & Luther
Vandross in Detroit in
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mixing, I was mixing live. I was performing. I always
had this crowd in my head. When I go back and listen
to those mixes, it always feels like I was performing.

front of Soundsuite Like I was live on stage.

Studios in 1982 Was a lot of it manual mixing? Hands-on?
recording and mixing Oh, sure. All the Luther and the Aretha [Franklin]
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Jump to It album.   records. Luther was producing Aretha, so that’s

how I got to do the Aretha records. Two with
Left: MB, Mick jagger, him, and then one with Narada Michael Walden;
and Keith Richards in “Freeway of Love.” That approach turned out to
Olympic Studios in work great. As a drummer, I knew all my cues for
Barnes during the mixing manual mixing. I didn’t really need someone to
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of Steel Wheels in 1991. help me. Maybe turning a snare on and off, or a
reverb, or something. I really loved it. I’d stand
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All archive photos

up and mix. I’d be with Luther and all the boys
and captions courtesy
in the room, and we’d be jamming and moving.
of MB.
Mixes were a performance, in the
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analog days.
28/Tape Op#131/Mr. Brauer/(continued on page 30)
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They were. They had to be. It was such a great feeling
when I nailed it. I’d always print each pass I did. I
never wanted to stop in the middle. I never edited it.
It always had to be a performance, from beginning to
end. It had to feel right. That way I knew how to
build the dynamics.
At that point in time, how many people
did you know that were full-time
mixers?
There were very, very few. In our studio none of us were
quite full-time yet. During my time, the senior guys
were Michael DeLugg, Harvey Goldberg, Tony Bongiovi,
Joe Jorgenson, Michael Barbiero, Alan Varner, Doug
Epstein, Lincoln Clapp, Bob Clearmountain [Tape Op
#129], Ed Stasium [#98], Godfrey Diamond, and Ron
Saint Germain. Everybody had such a different sound
and approach; it was great to watch. The ones who
had the most personality really grew. You could see
that they didn’t have to have great talent, although
engineer at Electric Lady.” He’d just been hired. Lou I listen to your mixes, and I don’t know if
said, “Oh, we’ll start tomorrow.” Godfrey runs back and I’ve ever thought, “Oh, that’s a
he’s like, “How do you patch?” I think his assistant may Brauer mix.”
have known more than him, but he pulled it off and Well, there you are. You’ve seen where they all kind of
nobody was the wiser. He was a great hang, and the have the same snare sound or the same this and that.
record [Coney Island Baby] sounded good. He delivered, It gets cranked out. I learned a long time ago how
right? Sometimes an artist would come in with a lot of important it is to try and be timeless. I produced a
attitude and say their music was “the shit!” Godfrey record for Roachford [on their self-titled release with
would say, “I think I can save this!” And he would. the hit, “Cuddly Toy,” in 1988]. Two or three years later
Everybody had a different approach to working with a I was listening to it, and I was shocked because it was
client – that was the great learning experience. It wasn’t so timestamped. The way the drums sounded and
just about how to make a great snare drum sound; [it everything. You could almost tell what month that
was also about] interpersonal communication between snare was popular.
yourself and the artist, or the producer, and a room fullThe ‘80s had such an issue with that.
of people who are trying to control the room. Tony Technology was shifting, and
[Bongiovi] always controlled. Every one of these guys techniques were getting passed around.
always controlled the session. You could see the guys Yeah. This was around the mid-’80s with the AMS
who didn’t, and the band would take over. Suddenly it’s reverb on the snare. I was really embarrassed. I
like, “Who’s flying the plane?” That personality comes remember it being such a great song, but the sound

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they did. Artists were just so endeared to them. Others across in the way they make their records. timestamped it. I don’t want to do that. I really
who didn’t become successful had attitude. Even What does your personality bring? have to work to be as timeless in the mix as

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though they were really good, no one wanted to be I think I try to stay pretty transparent. I think I can possible. Still keeping everything current, but not
with them. They went on and did other things. really bring out the dynamics and the heart of the to give it such a “this is what was hot then” and
That’s sometimes the untold story of song, to really build it up so you can feel when that “this is now” kind of sound.
studio life. If you’re not a good hang, chorus hits. The emotion of a mix. If a song is sad, I Speaking of current times, what I’ve
who’s going to sit in the studio with can make it really, really sad. If it’s happy, I can make found with mixers is that the overall

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you for 10 or 12 hours? it really happy. If it’s angry, I can make it super frequency bandwidth is wider. When
That’s how it is. Godfrey Diamond was hanging out in a angry. Those emotions are part of my personality, and you think about mixing Luther

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club at 21, and he ran into Lou Reed. Lou Reed decides, it comes out that way, but I’m pretty transparent. I Vandross’ first record, you were mixing
“I’m going to make a record.” Godfrey goes, “I’m an don’t put a big stamp on it. ostensibly for radio and vinyl, right?

MB at BrauerSound. Photo by Victor Lévy-Lasne/Mix With The Masters.

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30/Tape Op#131/Mr. Brauer/(continued on page 32)

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Not really. I really didn’t think that way. I was always
thinking as hi-fi as possible. Of course, I’d give it to Greg
Calbi [Tape Op #86], and he’d do what he had to do on
vinyl, but he didn’t have to do too much. I knew my
limitations, because I was using a compressor. Maybe
too much back then. Back then, R&B was tight. I always
used a [Neve] 33609 into a couple of Pultec EQs.
On the whole mix?
On the whole mix. That worked great, until Narada
Michael Walden came along and wanted way more
bottom-end on the Freeway of Love record. As I added
more bass, Aretha’s voice disappeared. I was using a
stereo compressor. “Bring Aretha back up!” Then the
bass would come down. He’s like, “Hey, what’d you do
with the bass?” It was one of those nauseous feelings,
where it’s like, “I’m up against the wall, and I may not
get out of this. Is it possible I’m going to fail?” But
that’s what led to multi-bus compression.
Good segue. I was going to ask you when
you started working that way.
Well, I survived it; right? I still have a hard time listening
to that song. I physically remember the fear that I had
mixing it. After that, I was thinking, “Will this happen
to me again? What am I going to do?” I was mixing
basically in pre-compression, and then hitting the
stereo compressor, and every track was getting nailed
at the same time. Records now have way more bottom-
end, and we all know the bottom-end triggers the
compressor, not the top-end. And whoever’s on top is
going down too. So, do I keep bringing down all the
other faders? Then you lose the glue [that the bus
compressor adds]. It was one thing affecting the
other. I knew I never wanted to experience that again.
I was mixing at Right Track at the time; I had just left
MediaSound. Frank Filipetti was the senior engineer
there. He had just gotten a new console for some of
the film work he was doing; it was an SSL 6000. I was
mixing on the SSL 4000. I’d grown up on the Neve
8068, so the transition from Neve to SSL was a
frightening experience. I would put up my multitrack
on there, and it just didn’t come back the same way.
The bottom-end was tiny. The snare didn’t hit.
Understand, this is the first couple of years of SSL. If
you touch even the top-end EQ, you’d be screaming.
It was harsh, and one little tweak was like 6 dB. They
went on to do great things, and it became the 9000
console, eventually – my favorite console in the world.
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But Frank Filipetti was showing me the new console,
the 6000. I asked, “What is this?” He said, “You’ve got
three stereo busses now.” I was like, “There’s no such
thing. There’s only one stereo.” He said, “No. You’ve
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got three sub-stereos, and they all sum to one.” I said,
“Yeah, who cares? Why?” He goes, “Well, you’ve got
the music on one, then the dialog, and then the
effects. You can separate everything within the film.”
My head just went, “Wait a minute! Separate? If I
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could separate the drums and bass from the vocals, I’d
be set! This is the answer to my problem.” That began
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the transition, slowly. All that I knew was that this
was my salvation, if I could truly separate the drums
or the bottom-end from other elements. It took me
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months and months of figuring out what combinations
32/Tape Op#131/Mr. Brauer/(continued on page 34)
worked. Back then it was strictly multi-bus Yeah. Then I eventually moved over to Sony studios and
compression. If I could send the bass to A and B – say got the SSL 8000 that had four sub-stereo busses. “I
the B was just the drums and the bass, and the A was think I’ll use the fourth one as a spreader.” That had a
going to be guitars and everything else, and C might spreading compressor on it. Then, when I moved to
be vocals – maybe if I sent the bass to A and B it the 9000, I had four sub-stereos plus the desk stereo,
would sound really cool. Now I was into parallel so that was five. Then I could choose between
compression. I didn’t know what any of these terms processed and non-processed. That’s when I started
meant at all. Nothing. letting more of the transients through. Let’s say the
It wasn’t commonly talked about that way. kick was going through B, but then I’d hit the stereo
Yeah. You could say “parallel compression,” but that bus too, and now I was getting combinations. To this
was Greek to me. I had no idea what it meant, or day, I still have A, B, C, and D, and I’ve got more gear
how it sounded. “Why? Who cares?” Some of the in the back of my racks with the Pultec. Then B is
English guys would take the stereo mix on the 4000, [Empirical Labs] Distressors going into the Avalon E55
and they’d have the stereo mix uncompressed, and equalizers. C is the Pendulum Audio ES-8 [tube
then they’d mult in a very compressed mix limiter], and then D is this [TFPro P8] Edward the
underneath it. That was parallel compression. Slowly Compressor. It’s a spreader.
you’d get that “excitement” going on. The English When you say spreader, what do you
engineers did a lot of that. Eventually MediaSound mean by that?
and all the other studios opened up to outside It’s got a width control on it, and I have it all the way at
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engineers, because, for years, they were staffed. A 150 percent.
producer or artist wouldn’t ever bring in their own Is that like a mid/side effect? I don’t
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engineer if they were from somewhere else. I slowly, know that device.
slowly got a really cool thing going. I put Kind of. It just takes everything on the left and moves it
compressor processing on [mix busses] A, B, and C. a little on the right, and then everything on the right
If I didn’t have it loud enough, nothing was going and moves it a little on the left. You feel this spread,
on with the compressors across each sub-stereo, like which I use for backing vocals and certain things I
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on my drums. If I put too much in, it got small. The want to go a little wider. Right about the time, right
compressor was grabbing. And then there’s the before I first worked with Coldplay, my friend David
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choice of compressors. Months and months of trial Kahne mixed lead vocals by compiling them through
and error. I discovered that I could hear these ideas four or five different-sounding compressors. I found
in my head. At the time I was a bike racer and I was that intriguing. His vocal sound was always fat and
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putting in hundreds of miles a week. I’d be on my
bike and I’d just imagine, “What if I put the drums
in this compressor?” I could hear those ideas in my
big, but the meter didn’t kill. At this point, I’d already
gone as far as I could with what I had done, and I had
a million different options. That’s what’s so great
head, because I’d gotten to know my drums, and about the multi-bus compression approach. I can
compressors, and EQs so well. If you imagine well, always get out of any trouble with width and depth by
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you can eliminate 99 percent of the gear. You can going with this.
look at all your toys, scan them, and suddenly just Just by reassigning things?
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go, “Boom.” I’d come back into the studio to see if Yeah. If I want a little more level, instead of trying to
it worked. If not, “Well, okay.” bring a fader up, I’ll send it through one more thing,
Oops, bad idea. like C. It was so much fun. But then along came this
That was how the multi-bus title happened. Someone other idea. So, I played with that for a while. Then,
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put a name on it: “Multi-bus compression.” I kept eventually, I didn’t have the lead vocal going through
that term until it no longer applied, because I A, B, C, or D anymore. It was separate from all that.
started quickly using parallel and send returns. But I’d send it to four different-sounding compressors:
I’d been doing this almost ten years before your Fairchild 666, one of my Gates [Sta-Levels], the 1176,
article [Tape Op #37]. At that point, I’d had enough and a Distressor.
success that people were interested. “What are you It was going through all of these?
doing that’s different?” Yeah, through the send. On the return I would form the
People were using facets of it, but you vocal sound. Each one sounded different – one was a
had a system going. head sound, one was throaty, one was urgent – and
Nothing was original. The combining became original. then I’d have the Distressor on crush and sneak in a
Do you still work in this fashion now? little bit of that.
Absolutely. It extended to not only A, B, and C. It So, you’d blend those all back to one
went to D and the stereo bus. B was my drums and signal with bussing?
bass, generally. C was my guitars. A would be Right. Then I’d EQ a little bit. Usually I took some 300
anything with sustain. A was what I originally Hz out. I’d end up with this really incredible vocal
mixed in, with my Neve 33609 going into the sound. When I’m pushing the vocal, I’m sending the
Pultec. But, at that time, it would be all my vocals, vocal into these compressors. I’d find a sweet spot in
all keyboards, organs, strings, or horns. [Basically] these compressors and then I’d bring them all back, so
anything that was sustain. they’d all be compressing about the same, unless one
Non-percussive. was crushing. Maybe I had the 1176 on the British
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 David Kahne, Paul McCartney, and MB at Sarm West Studios in London.
Mixing Back in the U.S. Live 2002 in stereo and 5.1.
setting [4 buttons in]. I would also use the Federal
[AM864U], which has this mid-range crazy, crazy
sound. That combination could just turn a vocal that
was dull and uninteresting into a vibrant vocal that
didn’t sound compressed.
Were you still using the original,
uncompressed signal parallel against
that?
No. That was it. All you’re hearing is the return of those
four or five compressors. I’d be mixing into them. I’d
find that sweet spot where they’d be reacting
beautifully. I never looked back.
With the systems you do, are you
compressing the final mix output? Is
there a limiter?
Yeah, there would be a glue factor. That’s my mastering
rack, where I have a choice of four different
compressors. The Manley Variable Mu, the Chandler
Germanium compressor, the Shadow Hills Mastering
Compressor, and the ADL 670. The ADL is based on the
Fairchild 670, but it sounds a bit more modern. I have
a switch, so I can listen to any of those; I can A/B
between. On a lot of these, it’s just a feel thing.
t)
Depending on the music, the Chandler just has this
incredible bottom and warmth. But maybe there’s a
certain record where there’s already too much of that. I told you about my client who hired me
(a
Maybe the Manley tube is just what it needs. Or it
could be the 670, which is much more of a traditional
squishy kind of sound. Or the Shadow Hills, which has
VCA [voltage-controlled amplifier] and optical That is just the worst – it doesn’t make any sense. A
compression. There are times when I don’t use any of
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them for a song.
You’re not still using your ears, are you?
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[laughter]
I don’t know that I need to! It’s just feels like more than
hearing. “Oh, this feels better.” Interestingly, I usually really that unwanted, then maybe I’m out. I know that
stay away from talking technique. I teach this seminar
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at Mix with the Masters, where I started with Victor
34/Tape Op#131/Mr. Brauer/(continued on page 36)
[Lévy-Lasne] and Maxime [Le Guil] ten years ago.
During that week I unfortunately have to spend some
time explaining what’s now called “Brauerize.” It was
actually Guy [Berryman] from Coldplay who came up
with that term. I have to explain technically what goes
on, but I say, “Look, this is just a tool. Why am I using
it? Because I’m trying to get an emotion out, as well as
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different colors. This is the process. You’re mixing into
compression.” It helps me find the four or five emotions
of happiness, sadness, anger, or the club, where the
vocal isn’t really any more than one of the instruments.
This approach is such a great tool, because you can use
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any combination. There are times when it sounds too
big and expensive, and I’ll go back to my traditional way
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with the Neve and the Pultecs. I’ve been in a situation
like that with John Mayer, where I was mixing “Who
Says.” He said, “That sounds great. It sounds radio
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ready, but it just doesn’t sound honest enough!” I
removed everything and went right back to my
traditional way where everything went to A, which is
the Neve and the Pultec. Even the vocal was my original
[Urei] LA-3A. It wasn’t about the sound, but about how
the sound was projecting. The great thing about my
approach is that you have everything. It allows
somebody to get as creative as they want.
to mix a song a couple years ago and
said, “Can you do the Brauer bus
technique?” I’d never applied that.
manager I had was telling me, “What you need to do
now is sound more like Chris [Lord-Alge],” or whoever
was hot at time. I was just like, “I’ve been spending all
these years working up my own sound and you’re telling
me now that’s no good?” So, I fired him. If my sound is
feeling! It’s an awful, awful feeling. “Why don’t you call
that guy?” You’re there to use that person’s talent.
Have you worked on records where
you’re in a test run with other mixers
that you don’t know about?
Sure. We all do that. You have to be as much yourself as
possible. You don’t second-guess. You just do what
your interpretation is of that. It doesn’t mean that
your mix is any worse or any better than somebody
else’s. I’ve won a bunch, and I’ve lost some. You just
go, “Okay.”
When you first started to do mixes that
weren’t just signed off on in the
moment, how did you deal with those
sort of revisions?
The artist used to attend the mix. They’d come in, I’d
mix, and they’d make comments. That was the last of
it – their comments were final. Maybe sometimes
they’d say, “Let’s come back in.” On the Neve we drew
pictures of each EQ and where the fader was. But,
basically, I would go back and mix that song. I’d A/B
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it against my old mix, and it would be so close! I was
hearing it the same way. Those were great days. Then
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Pro Tools came out and people suddenly realized that
they had more options, as well as more ways to delay
the final verdict. They would delay, and delay, and
delay. It got to the point where I’d do the mix and
they’d come back with a legal-size yellow pad and get
)
really detailed. It also got to the point where I’d listen
to the mix and go, “What is this mix? What am I
ot
listening to anymore? The focus is all gone!” They’d do
all this stuff and then I’d say, “Let’s listen back to the
first mix.” Everybody would be moving. Then we’d
listen to four hours of changes, and nobody’s moving
in the room. They got detailed. They’re starting to
listen to their own instruments. You’ve lost your way.
Do you find yourself trying to counsel
people about this?
You know, you do your best; but it’s to the point now
where nobody cares. “These are the comments; do
them.” People don’t even attend anymore. I’m fine to
do all that. What I find a little bit different is that
people don’t say, “Thank you.” They send you notes.
Like how about...
I know this feeling very well, Michael.
How about, “I love this mix. Great mix. Here are my
comments.” As opposed to, “Here are my comments.”
We are mixers. We are putting emotion into this song.
We are putting our heart into it. We do care. Everybody
likes a little bit of a pat on the back. I think artists
and producers should just take a minute to say, “Thank
you.” Don’t they get encouraged by the same things?
“Wow, great song!” Or when they’re performing it,
people applaud after a song. Not, “Hey, your guitar
was a little out of sync there in the second chorus.”
The fact that only ten percent show up to sessions
now to listen to my mix makes the whole process more
difficult now. I always sat down and discussed the
rough mix before getting started.
What they like, what they don’t like.
Exactly. If I’ve got three hours to mix this song, the
learning curve is going to be pretty quick. The
more they tell me, the more I’m going to nail it
right off the bat. Now I have to imagine myself
having that conversation.
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 BrauerSound Flow Chart

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A number of times I’m trying to figure out Absolutely. If I really feel like it takes the song Chris [Martin] and the band always showed up until
what they want via their rough mix somewhere else, I’ll do an alternate mix and then I’ll Viva La Vida. Chris was back in England. We’d
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and eventually someone says, “We wait and see what happens. FaceTime at a certain time every day, usually right
totally don’t like the rough mix.” I do that exact same thing. after bath time for Chris’ kids. We’d get online and
That’s rough then. If they’re not going to attend, I will I used to demand that the artist show up, and then that work for two or three hours. I did the same kind of
get on the phone with them. “That rough really sucks. stopped working. They don’t have the budget to come thing with John Mayer. They tried to attend. If they
Is this indicative?” If you’re not going to attend, why into New York, or they’re rehearsing, or they’re on the couldn’t, they couldn’t.
road. Okay. Then I demanded that we do FaceTime. Having someone here, you can read
t)

don’t you spend a minute to give me some kind of a

reference? They’re usually liars, because in my When Nicecast came out with their streaming app – their body language. If you feel them
experience when they say, “Don’t listen to the rough which is no longer – I’d set it up while it was going. I twitching, or if the bass player drops
at all,” I’ll try it. And then they say, “You know how in was streaming Nicecast, and I was doing FaceTime. It in, then you start thinking, “How
(a

the verse that guitar sounded…”
It keeps coming back to haunt you.
“But you said not to listen to it!” Well...
Do you ever get some part they added that
they don’t think works, but they still
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was like being able to have the band in the room, and would the bass sound to me if I was the
they could do their comments. There might be more bass player?”
comments later, but I’d really nail 90 percent of how And what happens if he starts focusing on the bass and
they wanted to hear it. I don’t even request FaceTime it becomes “the bass song”? The body language; I
or Nicecast anymore, whatever the newest live process remember one artist I worked with didn’t say a word.

gave it to you? is. Either people will attend, or that’s it. The next best He’d never worked with anyone. He’d mixed his own
Someone in the band wanted it, or the label wanted it. thing was like, “Wherever you are in the world, I’m records, but the label asked that I mix him. He was
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Right. If you mute that and just happily
mix on, that’s going to be the
thing they mention when you’re
done, right?
mp
going to have the mix ready.” I’m going to play you the looking at me like I was a mercenary. I was like, “No,
mix so you have time to live with it, and then we’re I’m not going to do that to you. This is for you. This
going to hook up and make changes in real time. is your record. This isn’t like I’m hired help and if you
Did you do mix sessions with Coldplay, or like it or don’t like it, I don’t care.” I played him the

other bands, initially like that? mix, and he just had no comment at all. He was like,
36/Tape Op#131/Mr. Brauer/(continued on page 38)
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 “This is good.” I’m like, “I don’t believe that!” So, I
said, “Let me just play it one more time.” Then I
watched him. I kind of looked to the side, and I
noticed his eyebrow would move on the B-section and
in the bridge. I notated that in my head. Then I said,
“So, do you like verse two?” He goes, “Oh yeah, it’s
fine.” I go, “Are you sure? Let’s play verse two. Do you
love everything about that?” I could see his
eyebrow... Then he said, “You know, the synth on that
could be a little bit brighter.” Then I’d say, “How’s the
bridge here?” The eyebrow would bop. It was like
pulling teeth. He just wasn’t being open at all, and I
made him speak his mind. By the end of the record I
didn’t have to pull teeth anymore. He didn’t feel
intimidated; he could be open. Maybe he’d been told,
“Oh, this is a pro. Don’t get in the way.” Which is the
worst possible thing you could tell an artist.
I’ve had clients come in who think that
I’m only trying to satisfy myself. I’m
baffled by that.
They’ve got to live with it. If it’s successful, and it was
mixed the way they hated, the band will break up.
Suddenly you made them a “pop” band or something.
Last time I visited you, you were in
Electric Lady, mixing in the back
room past the big live room.
Studio B. I was there for nine years. I was at MediaSound
from ‘76 to ‘81, and then I went to Right Track for
some years, and Quad [Studios] for 20, with a six-year
break at Sony Studios. At Quad, the writing was on the
wall. Lou Gonzalez was selling the studio, and I
watched this new guy take over. He was young and
inexperienced. I could just see that it was not going I noticed there’s not an SSL in your new
to stay successful. This is when the bottom fell out of
the industry and there were no budgets anymore. The I’ve been lucky since I moved here. I thought, “If I’m
economy had also taken a drive. One of my friends,
Troy Germano, called me and said, “The new guy’s co-
owner is telling everybody he’s going to jack your
studio rate up.”
That’s a good friend to have.
I didn’t say anything, but that’s when I started looking
for another studio. I really liked Lee [Foster, Electric
Lady’s managing partner]. I’d run into Lee a few
times. He’d be like, “Why aren’t you working at my
studio?” Now it was like, “Lee. Why don’t you come
and visit me?” I showed him my room, because there’s
a certain comfort level there. I never used the live
room, so it was the lounge at the time, and it became
t)
my recall room. He said, “I’ve got a room for you.” I’d
never been to Electric Lady before. There was this
thing between MediaSound and Electric Lady, where
(a
you’d never, ever work at Electric Lady. They were
bitter enemies for years because of the previous
owner. I went in, and he took me all the way to the
back; a whole back section of Electric Lady. There was
a big credenza behind the console, but I had my six
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racks of gear. “Where am I going to put it?” He said,
“We’ll get rid of the credenza.” “Could you do that,
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and then build a wall for gear so all the extra racks
could go in?” He said, “Sure, what else do you want?”
I said, “This looks like it’s an original SSL 9000. That’s get maybe three songs in a day. But there were no
really old. You’re going to need to refurbish this and
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38/Tape Op#131/Mr. Brauer/(continued on page 40)
fix it up. If you can do all those things I’ll move here,
because this is great.” For Electric Lady, it was a
perfect time. They were going through a really hard
transition and weren’t sure if they were going to
renew their lease. Lee found a new owner and became
a part-owner. Things changed drastically. I was there
for nine years. I’d been doing a lot of indie records.
Coldplay wasn’t indie, but it started that way! Unless
you were doing strictly urban pop, the budgets were
smaller, and I was still in a room that’s a major daily
expense. It was almost ten years, at this point. It was
time to move. With the projects that are going on, I
want the ability to take on anything I want. I can still
do all the major label projects, but I can also do
anything that I want to do, without the pressure that
I’ve got to book the room to use it. That’s what led
me to thinking about eventually moving out and just
having my own place, which is something that I
never, ever thought I would do. I needed to build two
rooms. I had basically turned the live room at Electric
Lady into a prep and recall room. I had the same
whole setup of the main room for simple recalls that
my assistants could do for level changes and such. It
was time to move, and I looked around; but it was
pretty depressing. I saw one studio I didn’t like, but I
liked the owner, Louis Benedetti. The owner was
saying, “I’m thinking of opening a new place in
Chelsea.” I said, “Here’s my budget, and I want a
monthly lease.” I didn’t have to do that while I was
at Electric Lady. If I didn’t work, I didn’t pay. It came
in handy when I was slow. But I was in there so much;
year, after year, after year.
room here.
(d
going to move, I can’t be bringing an SSL console
here.” An analog console that’s going to come with all
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its age, all its heat, and all its tech needs. There’s not
going to be a tech on staff here like at Electric Lady.
ai
That’s a luxury! At this point, I felt so confident with
the control surface of the [Avid] Artist Mix. I demoed
this Avid S6 control surface for about three months. If
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I’m going to have a control surface, it has to look like
my console. I have to have a lot of faders, because I’m
still going to be playing with them. I’m not going to
do the mouse thing. This is strictly a control surface,
quick recall, and it’s fast. I’ve learned how this
automation works, and it’s everything the SSL
automation had. During the last year and a half at
Electric Lady I had set up the recall room. The recall
room was a hybrid, but I had the basics of my analog
gear duplicated. I had two racks with A, B, C, and D
going on, as well as a little mastering rack. For
everything else I was just using plug-ins. I had a little
Artist Mix [control surface], two of them, for 16 faders.
I knew I was going to have to learn this, because all
of my friends were already mixing either hybrid or in-
the-box. The reason for that really is mix recalls.
Recalls are endless. You can’t keep recalling a console.
If it was one day of comments, and I was fast, I could
stems being made of that. Now there are notes after
notes. Initially we had to start doing stems. We had to
do 40 passes [of stem mixes], and then we would make
all the recalls off of all the passes. We didn’t recall the
console anymore. I decided, “I’m going to still keep
analog. I’m just going to replace the console.” It was
dreadful, I can tell you. I remember times just getting
up and screaming. I’d be so mad. I’d start to mix
something and I’d feel like shit. It felt nothing like me.
I’d go back, and I already had something else I was
mixing in the other room, but I was learning. Even
trying to mix the same song in the hybrid room,
“Where’s the sweet spot?” I know the sweet spot on a
Neve and an SSL. This is a mouse. Where’s the sweet
spot? But because I had the A, B, C, and D, I just
needed to get back into how far up I needed to put
the faders so I’m back in the sweet spot on my
compressors. I realized I didn’t need the console
anymore for the sound. I’m dependent on my A, B, C,
and D. I had to recalibrate all the gear a little bit, so
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it would kick in a little bit sooner. It was just the fear
factor that I had. I had no confidence in this, but I
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knew that I had to get it. Then one day I mixed a
song, and it just felt like me again. I didn’t have to
think. When I mix, I don’t think; I just go by impulse.
I’m just feeling and moving. Here, initially, I was
constantly thinking. I didn’t know how to do this and
)
didn’t know how to do that. I didn’t know anything. It
was a new instrument. It started to come over the
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course of a year, because I just kept at it. Then finally
I mixed a song, just a small project. It was a paying
project; so I had to care, and I had to deliver. It came
out really, really good! I found that I had more width,
more clear depth, and it went down further. I got there
quicker. That bottom-end was there a lot faster. I tried
to mimic the things that I do on the console with the
way I’d double up a bass; I’d do a neck sound and kind
of a bass sound. Same with the vocal, trying to learn
how to do that with different compressors or plug-ins.
It got to the point where I was like, “Shit, this feels
good! The artist is happy.”
For your A, B, C, and D paths, were you
leaving the gear set?
I always left A, B, C, and D set anyway. It’s all the other
EQs that change.
I find myself using a lot of the same
hardware settings lately. I used to
read about engineers doing that and
felt like it was a cop out.
I 100 percent agree with you. The only things that I
touch here would be my reverbs and delays.
It’s always different music, but we’re
always trying to solve a lot of the same
mix problems.
Absolutely. If it’s a great recording, you don’t have to
use anything. Then there are other ones… Wow,
thank god for plug-ins. I’ll put Helios ones across
everything if it really needs something!
What do you feel about the quality of tracks
you’ve been given to mix these days?
It was really, really bad about 10 or 15 years ago. You
had engineers who had never recorded anything.
Everything was loops and synths, and suddenly they’re
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 being asked to record something acoustic because James Brown and MB, recording and mixing
they’re really “hot.” They’d be recording drums, and we Love Over-Due at Criteria Studios in Florida 1991.
all know that you’ve got to be good to get drums to
sound like they’re appropriate for the song, as opposed
to something that sounds like cardboard on all ten
songs. That was a nightmare. But I think it’s gotten
better and better. Also, there’s the transition of getting
stems instead of raw tracks.
Right, where they’ve committed to
something.
It doesn’t mean that I put up the stems and go home! I
learned this over time. “I really like this rough mix. How
come I don’t have that reverb?” “Well, you didn’t give it
to me.” “Why can’t you just do the same thing?” I’d ask,
“How long did you spend getting that reverb?” Then it’s,
“What about all the effect on the guitar? I love this
one.” In the early days with Pro Tools, it was all done Easily. That’s a definite MAI. I am matching this sucker!
with plug-ins, and they’d just give me the direct guitar Then I figure out why they came to me. Maybe it’s only
signal. I’d say, “What is that?” They’d say, “You figure 5 percent. That 5 percent is all it needed, as opposed

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out.” I’d reply, “You spent hours getting the guitar to 20 percent that you didn’t need, and then they make
sound, and you want me to mimic it off your direct? you change it back to what it was. That’s where the

What’s wrong with you?” That’s when I started saying,
“Don’t give me a direct signal. Give me your processing.”
It’s not like I’m lazy. I’m going to start where you left
off. “Are you happy with the sound you have? Then give
it to me that way! Give me what you like. Trust me.”
There’s always still a lot more to go. More and more I
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experience comes back in; recognizing what to keep
and what to change. Not feeling like because I’m hired,
I need to change it all. That’s generally not the case.
That’s an ego thing that people have to get over
sometimes. “I’m hired to do this, so I have to do all of
this and that.” This is where it helps if you can just talk

)
started requesting stems. That’s the way the world is to the artist. It’s always two things. Drums and vocals!

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right now. What you get generally in the rough mix is a If you improve the drums a little bit, and you improve
running master off Pro Tools. They haven’t put those the vocals, while maintaining the balance of everything
faders down since the day they put them up. else between the vocals and drums, usually everybody’s
Right. There’s a sort of mix process happy! On a rough mix where I think, “Wow, it’s
going along.
(d
It’s a mix in progress. I’ll listen to the rough mix, and
crushed and finished. Why are they coming to me?” It’s
probably because it’s crushed.
often it’s pretty close. I came up with the term called Relax it a little.
MAI; Match And Improve. I’m going to match it, and Yeah, relax it. What would I do with this song if I had
then it’s up to my creativity to know what I’m going to mixed it? What are they talking about? Why are they
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need to improve. If it’s only ten percent, which ten saying I should mix it? Then I start imagining that, and
percent? More and more, I’m getting really good, it’s like, “Well, this is what I would do.” It’s a MAI and
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consistent rough mixes. As a mixer, it’s up to me to back it up a little bit.

figure out what I’m going to change. I’ll be A/B-ing, and I’ll just turn the fader
Your taste is always going to be part of in Pro Tools of the rough mix down
this process. until it’s close to the console mix I’m
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That’s why they’re calling me. But it’s not a “my way or the going at, and then I keep A/B-ing back
highway” thing. For the most part now, if I’m doing a and forth.
record and there’s a bunch of comments, I don’t have Always. I do that. Then you’ll see where the changes are.
to work off stems. It takes a few minutes to pull the There have been situations where I do that and go,
mix back up, my assistant matches it, I do my changes, “Man, my mix sounds good.” Then I go, “Fuck, it’s the
t)

and that’s it. Stems can be printed later. All of my rough!” My head hits the console and I feel nauseous.
hardware is across the Antelope convertor’s inserts, so That’s the way I always work. I know some people say
I’m using strictly Antelope. The patchbay is all the to never listen to rough mixes. Well, good luck with
(a

Antelope, so I never have to touch the patchbay again. that! In today’s world, the more you can nail it, and the
It shows up in Pro Tools as an analog plug-in. I always less comments you can get, it’s a happy day.
print anything that’s hardware. That’s true. I want the client to be happy
Your assistants help you with printing and have what they want.
mixes? This is for them. r
They don’t help me; they do it. I get up and go home. They
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<www.mbrauer.com>
print every hardware insert. If a piece of gear goes
<mwtm.com/brauer>
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down, it’s already been printed.

Do you get that gut feeling when you
hear the rough mix, where you’re www.tapeop.com
like, “What am I going to do?” I get Bonus content online!!!
mp

that a lot with good rough mixes.

40/Tape Op#131/Mr. Brauer/(Fin.)
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Please Support Our Advertisers/Tape Op#131/41

 Like most kids, I assume you took piano
lessons?
My dad made me learn piano. I was too young at the
time to have a choice in the matter, or even a desire.
My teacher was a classical teacher who had no
understanding of modern music at all, and that was
something I really wanted to delve into. He couldn’t
really help me, so I started to dabble, not really
knowing what to do. In high school, in New Zealand,
all my friends were heavily into guitar music and it
didn’t quite resonate with me. Before school one day,
one of my friends walked up to me and gave me his
earbuds. It was the first Guy album [Guy], produced
by Teddy Riley. When I heard this music that was
very modern, highly produced, and created through
keyboards, it was my gateway drug to ‘90s hip-hop.
I became a huge ‘90s hip-hop head: Native Tongues,
Jungle Brothers, A Tribe Called Quest, Brand Nubian,
Public Enemy, and Eric B. & Rakim. Every day after
“Why can’t you just play the piano? Why can’t you up my imagination so much. That became the world
play Gershwin?” I had a weird moment one day. I I wanted to get into. It was interesting 10 or 20 years
had this whole record collection, and I’d bought all later, where I really felt in a powerful position to be
this equipment, but I woke up one day and thought, able to pull that story together. All of these elements
“This is meaningless! I’m making these loops, and are of the same core, and they can all work together
there’s no substance to them. What’s the point?” I to create something new and interesting.
was an extremist in my youth, so I sold everything. When you were in London there were
I sold 12-inches I’ll never see again. I sold all my some new styles and genres emerging,
equipment. This was about age 15. It was all about broken beat being one of them.
the piano, and Miles [Davis], and [John] Coltrane Broken beat was a media-created label. I got to London
records; I dove headlong into jazz. I didn’t see the in 1998 and happened into this community of misfits.
correlation between the styles, at the time. There were maybe half a dozen people who were at the
Jazz-influenced hip-hop was yet again epicenter of the genre’s inception. Each one of those
another wave altogether. was from a different background. Phil Asher was a
There was definitely some of it, but to me those were house producer. IG Culture was doing dub, reggae, and
worlds apart. Jazz caught me hook, line, and sinker. hip-hop. A crew called Bugz in the Attic were all
I was living in Japan for my last year of high school, coming from funk and deep jazz-fusion. 4Hero were
and Tokyo had 60 jazz clubs at the time. I was coming from rave music, drum and bass, and techno.
probably spending more time in the clubs than I was They were all coming from different places and spaces,

m
school I’d go down to the record store and see what going to school. I finished that high school year, but they were all getting bored. These are all styles of

12-inches were coming in on import. I wanted to get
some equipment, so I went to the local music store.
Accessible samplers were just happening, but I
didn’t know what a sampler was. I didn’t get it. I
remember buying my first drum machine, like a
Yamaha RX something. I had a Roland PR-100
co
went back to New Zealand. I was supposed to start music that are very clearly delineated by tempo and
law school. On the first day, my dad was knocking on rhythmic rudiment, so they all started to do different
my bedroom door saying, “Mark, university starts music, and their own scenes wouldn’t embrace them.
today!” I said, “No, I’m not going. I’m going to do This community came about because all these
music.” At that point in time I figured, “I’m going to individuals were rebels and misfits in their own
be a straight-ahead jazz musician. I’m going to live

)
sequencer with tiny little Quick Disks. I think I in New York.” I was in New Zealand, gigging a lot and

bought a Kawai multi-timbral synth. I started
messing around with this gear, not knowing at all
what I was doing. Not long after that a friend of
mine, Zane Lowe, and I were playing each other
demos at lunchtime. I was like, “Damn, that shit
sounds like hip-hop. How did they do that?” He said,
“They had a sampler.” That was like “the heavens
open” epiphany moment. I was messing around with
all this gear and collaborating with some hip-hop
and soul crews in Auckland, New Zealand. My parents
did not understand it, and they didn’t approve of it.
ot
playing acoustic jazz. Once a month we had a gig at
a club that was annexed to a DJ club. We’d jam in
there with two drummers, a turntablist, rappers, horn
players, and keyboard players. It was so much fun.
(d
Then I’d go back to my serious gigs. On one of these
serious gigs I was on stage, mid-gig, and I was
thinking, “Why am I being so serious about this when
I could put that focus on the fun shit?” Also, going
to jungle parties and having DJs spin music that was
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so progressively organic and hip compared to acid
house and what came before it; hearing that opened
ai

Mark de Clive-Lowe
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Focus on the Fun

interview and photo by Geoff Stanfield
t)

New Zealand’s Mark de Clive-Lowe is your conductor, musical tour guide, and
conduit to the past and future. From accomplished jazz artist to a shaker in London’s
(a

underground music scene, de Clive-Lowe has been part of over 200 releases and
continues to produce, perform live internationally, and compose. Like the mash-ups
and remixes he creates, his deep knowledge of jazz, hip-hop, Latin, dance, and
electronic music – coupled with acoustic instruments and live samplings – makes for
an experience that is more than simply a show. His quarterly club night, Church, in
e

NYC and L.A., are happenings of dancers, jazz, and progressive music fans, as well as
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those that want to take a ride on de Clive-Lowe’s musical bullet train.

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42/Tape Op#131/Mr. de Clive-Lowe/(continued on page 44)

 scenes, and they wanted to make their own music. It
wasn’t a style; it was an ethos, more than anything. It
was a freedom. It was heavily informed by ‘70s jazz.
Rhythmically it was always super progressive. “How
complicated can I chop this break, but still make it
funky?” That was based on people like Harvey Mason
and Leon “Ndugu” Chancler. Guys who had already
played the most complicated rhythms you could do.
But it was all about, “How can we capture that energy,
put it in a loop format, and have it appeal to the
dancer?” Preceding this, Gilles Peterson was a DJ and
producer out there. He’s been a huge part of shaping
the whole community and spearheading the
movement. He’d be DJing a party with Pharoah
Sanders and Sun Ra, and people were dancing.
Did you go to London not knowing
anyone?
I got there and I had two numbers. One was Dave Angel,
who’s a techno DJ. Dave was in New Zealand six years
earlier and walked into a bar I was playing at. Six years
later, he gets this call, “I don’t know if you remember
me?” He’s like, “Come down to the studio!” We made a
track that day, and that was my first time collaborating
with a producer in the UK. It showed me what’s
possible. There’s a sax player from New Zealand named
t)
(a
e
el
mp
Nathan Haines who was a mentor to me in New
Zealand, and he was living in London as well. He was
collaborating with all sorts of interesting people.
Within a week, I was in the studio with him doing a
track for Goldie’s Metalheadz label. Then the next day
with Phil Asher; an amazing house producer. These
guys were making innovative music and, as a keyboard
player, I could contribute. IG Culture’s living room was
a straight studio. I walked in, and he was on the [E-
mu] SP 1200, banging out beats. None of these guys
have musical training. They’re chopping samples,
reconfiguring them, montaging them, collaging them,
and chopping beats and programming beats in a way
that a musician honestly wouldn’t do. My first five
years there, I remember waking up every morning so
excited, thinking, “By the end of today, something’s
going to exist that never existed before, and I can’t
wait to hear it.” There was one other keyboard player,
Kaidi Tatham, who’s phenomenal. The two of us were
the entire keyboard contribution to the community. I
got asked to do my own records. From the first period
in London, I went back to New Zealand. That was part
of a one year round-the-world pilgrimage of sorts. I
was in San Francisco, New York, Cuba, London, Paris,
Tokyo, and Sydney over the course of a year.
(d
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ai
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You were living, contributing, trying to
make records and music, as well as do
live gigs?
Yeah. I’d been awarded a grant from New Zealand.
Whatever you proposed, they awarded you. Mine was
to go around the world for a year. I got to go to some
dream places, like Cuba. I went through Japan and
was in Tokyo at a music store and the [Akai] MPC2000
had just come out. I bought it and started making
music with the Rhodes, the MP, and a Roland JP-
8080, and made a record called Six Degrees; my
musical diary of traveling that year. That turned into
a touring project, as well as getting called in to do
remixes and production.
Many people have a very traditional
recording process of going into
the studio. How is that process
different from making some of the
music you produce?
m
At the time, it was still studio based; a home studio, or
co
a better environment. The live room wasn’t used that
often. Sometimes we’d cut live drums, or live
percussion or vocalists, but generally the producer
would create the rhythm track up front.
They may sample something, or not.
)
ot
 Then I’d come in and see what I heard. It’s interesting Exactly. Especially when I’m playing live solo, or even
working with sample-based beats, even if there isn’t with the band, the nature of playing and sampling a J Dilla’s Legacy
a very musical-sounding sample; because the drum moment that happens, then interpolating that, and There was something about J Dilla [James Dewitt
kits, percussion, and everything else is sampled off flipping that, and having it become a new moment Yancey] dying that qualified his catalog and made
records. There are these weird harmonic fragments, or that informs the next moment. musicians open to him. If you’re a drummer and
remnants, and everything has its pitch. Obviously, the What’s the rig you use live? haven’t checked Dilla, you’re missing something. He
kick drum already has a pitch, but there might be a The rig has evolved over time. It was [initially] built basically humanized the machine. To a musician it’s
slight overhang from the sample on some strings that around the [Akai] MPC3000. Now the heart of the like, “Oh, what? He turned the quantizer off?” Yes; not
gives another color, and the snare might be from a sequencing is a Native Instruments Maschine. exclusively, but before he did that most producers
record that’s got a little bit of guitar reverb left from Maschine, running inside Ableton Live, hosts all the would be on the grid. They might move things around
when it was chopped off the LP. You’ll end up with soft synths and drum synths. For my solo shows I do on the grid after creating it, but they were basically on
this weird harmonic palette of where the samples a lot of remixing, so I’ve got a lot of a capellas [vocal the grid, using the MPC’s or SP’s “swing” algorithms.
came from, and how they’re put together. tracks] in Ableton. The only prepared tracks are those. But Dilla would do it however he heard it. He’d chop
Rhythmically, sometimes I might be like, “Where’s the I’ve got a couple of [Korg] Kaoss Pads for live samples differently. He had a unique way of working.
one?” It wasn’t that complex, but they were creating sampling. I could be sampling into Ableton, but There’s something about the passion, spirit, and
these rudiments and rhythmic claves that were there’s something both very limiting and tactile with humanity that he put into his music that’s audible.
different. They’d even be out of tune with each other. the Kaoss Pads that I like. Everything I can do to get
These guys would put them together in a way where off the computer is great. Often there’s a grand piano
Your Church record came out of the
it shouldn’t work, but it did. That was super inspiring. or a Fender Rhodes, plus whatever analog synths I
nights you were hosting?
When you’re producing for other

people, are you hired to create the
m
can get my hands on that day. If I’m working with a
Definitely. The party started because I moved from
band, I’ll have them all split through a sub-mixer.
London. I was doing a regular party in London, and I

co
track and have someone come in and So, you’re getting a mult of everybody? missed that. I wanted it to be different, because that
sing, or are you leading the charge? Yes. Then I can choose if I want the vocalist or the was very much a London thing. Now I’m in L.A. I
It differs, from case to case. If people reach out to me trumpet. I’ll run them through the Kaoss Pads,
didn’t touch an acoustic piano for ten years in
now, they’re reaching out to me to do specifically sampling or effecting.
London. People would be like, “Let’s put piano on this
what I do. Maybe once I’ve been called to do a record You’ve talked about the idea of
track!” I’d say, “No, let’s put the [Roland] Juno on.”
where it was more of a control room/armchair- giving people the “moment” – the

)
I know I have emotional baggage with it. When I
producer session. I wasn’t playing anything, just bite-sized sample. started dating my wife, she was living in a house and

mentoring the band and making sure it was all how it When I’m doing electronic and dance floor performance,
should be. It’s not often that I get that kind of call.
I generally lead the way. I lost a couple of gigs
because I didn’t learn this soon enough, but
oftentimes the artist has a vision, and it’s too easy for
a producer to steamroll the artist’s vision. I didn’t
understand that earlier. I think it’s because I was in
London, mentored by a community where it was all
about producers. The vocalists were almost the
seasoning. It obviously works best when the visions
align. I’ve fallen in love with the band – and more of
ot
had a piano. I’d play the piano and started
there’s always an intention to subvert the audience. I
connecting with it. When the opportunity to start the
feel like if I can get you dancing, then I can basically
club night began, I wanted to present my entire
put free jazz on and you won’t even know. We have
(d
the entire history of music on our phones, and people
accept everything as music. I started remixing [John]
Coltrane’s Love Supreme on solo gigs. Jazz is a really
journey; growing up with jazz, falling in love with
hip-hop, breaks, and jungle music. I wanted to show
how the jazz club and the dance floor have this
inextricable intertwining connection. I played the
broad term now – there’s a huge range of musicality.
first set as acoustic jazz, and then flipped it for the
Some rock musicians don’t appreciate the electronic
second set. The dancers would start to come down
l
culture, but I think there’s a huge part of the
early and see me play some [Thelonious] Monk or
electronic culture that is deeply Afro-centric. I feel
[Duke] Ellington, and then the jazzers would stay late
ai

the live process – again, as well as bringing that into like the same elements and creativity are employed in
and see it transform into this rave. Calling it Church
the studio and finding that balancing point between every style.
never had any religious aspect; it was the idea of a
the technology and live musicians. That’s what really That’s interesting when you talk about
community celebration of music, dance, being alive,
excites me right now. Afro-centric.
gm

and sharing. It got to the point where musicians

H o w m u c h o f y o u r r e c e n t l i v e This is a differentiation with EDM; EDM is so blandly un- would be in town and come through; this open
performance style are you bringing black. Which is fine too, but then the corporate
format. I started doing it in New York monthly as
to the recording process? commoditization of it is a whole different topic.
well. Over time it became clear that I wanted to make
I find that if I’m sitting down to write, it’s more When it becomes the whole identifier – that anything
a record from it. Now it continues as a quarterly
traditional. I’ll often sit at the piano and write. I don’t that is “plugged in” is EDM – it becomes how people
t)

event. It stays true to that idea of where a jazz club

usually set up my live rig here at home. I’m definitely see it. What it’s done to DJ culture is horrific.
meets the dance floor, with a live remix. They come
of that old school nature, where if there’s a Do you impose limitations on all
to the party and someone always says, “Now I get
composition and I take away all the production and your work? why you call it ‘church.’ You’ve got to be there to
(a

beats, there’d better be something left. If I’m just I love limitations. When I workshop and discuss this I
experience it.” r
making a bonus beat track for a DJ, that’s different. talk about painting. If I give you a pencil and paper
It’s important to have a harmonic and melodic and ask you to draw, you’ll draw. If I give you paper <www.mdcl.tv>
integrity to a track. Sometimes, like when I cut the and a million colored pencils, you won’t know where
Church record, I did set up my whole live rig in the to start. That’s why I love the Kaoss Pads; they’re a
studio, and it was pretty much a live recording. Some really limited technology. Ableton Live is basically
e

tracks were too long, so I took chunks out. I’m limitless, so I put confines on it. For example, I like
el

programming on the fly and sampling the other
musicians on the fly. It’s a pretty risky way to make
music, and I love that. If there is no risk in the music,
then there’s no point in me doing the music.
mp
to limit myself fundamentally to a four-bar loop.
There’s a challenge in creating a four-bar loop that
feels like it’s alive and can keep going. Any
composition has limitations. It’s in this key, this time

That’s your jazz element. signature, or this tempo.

44/Tape Op#131/Mr. de Clive-Lowe/(Fin.)
 m
co
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(d
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gm
t)
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Please Support Our Advertisers/Tape Op#131/45


This album is one of my
favorite records of 2018
be honest, I’ve been a bit bored by a lot of guitar, bass, Liam describes the setting as an elevated wooden
Recording the Rolling Blackouts
Coastal Fever’s Hope Downs LP
by John Baccigaluppi
In the case of Hope Downs, the band had a very nice
friend with a beautiful house in the forested hinterlands
of Bellingen in northern New South Wales. After two days
of preproduction in the band’s Melbourne rehearsal space,
they all headed north.
Liam had listened to the band’s previous EPs and was
excited to work on the record, especially after he heard
the new demos. “The EPs had a great vibe and
atmosphere that had grown on me, but when I heard the
new songs I thought this was going to be a fun project;
capturing the vibe and atmosphere of those first EPs and
and, I gotta adding in these really catchy pop songs.”
the case of the RBCF album, I knew that lots of mic
preamps were required as I knew we’d be tracking live. I
ended up bringing along pretty much every mic pre I’ve
got. On top of that, are some 500-series boxes filled with
compressors and EQs and a few pieces of rack gear. I use
a PC with an RME Fireface 802, and record to Reaper as
my main DAW. I really like Reaper because it’s really
stable, solid and efficient. It just runs well. On drums, I
used a five-mic setup, which is my go-to. A Beez Neez
James (in an Arabella body) tube large diaphragm
condenser mic is a mono overhead. An Audix OM7 on
snare top, Blue/EV Cardinal on snare bottom, Heil
PR30 on floor tom, and a Heil PR40 is on kick. All these

m
and drums bands lately. While the band may not be room; somewhere between a cabin and a treehouse. I went through my old Spectra Sonics 110A preamps,
reinventing the wheel, they’re driving down the road of asked him for more details on his recording rig: “My except the overhead which was an Electrodyne 501 500-

co
guitar-based rock with a lot more energy and songcraft mobile rig varies in size depending on the project, but in series pre.
than most bands I’ve heard lately. Based out of
Melbourne, Australia, RBCF is a five-piece band with three
guitarists; all three of whom sing and write the songs.
This would strike me as a recipe for a messy, un-cohesive

)
album, but this record is anything but that, with every
track flowing nicely into the next. If this record had been

ot
released in the ’80s, it would have sat nicely next to
albums by bands like Television, Translator, and the
poppier moments of Sonic Youth. At least three or four
songs on the album feel like they would have been college
radio hits back then, and there’s not a weak track in the
bunch. Because I ended up loving this record so much, I
wanted to find out more about how it was recorded. I
(d
tracked down Liam Judson, who produced and recorded
the album, to find out more.
l
Mr. Judson has had an interesting and unique career
recording bands in Australia. He got his start with his
ai

own band, Belles Will Ring, where as he puts it, “I took

control of how we sounded and did all of our recordings.
That’s how I learned to record.” Other bands in Australia,
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such as Cloud Control, heard the Belles Will Ring

recordings, and started asking him to record them, and
Liam ended up recording their breakthrough LP, Bliss
Release. Unlike most busy, working engineers, Mr. Judson
rarely works in a traditional studio. Instead he specializes
t)

in remote recording, and takes his mobile rig to wherever

the band wants to set up and record. “I’ve worked in the
odd studio here and there,” he says, “but it’s not my
thing, and most bands seem to really enjoy being in a
(a

place where the hours are kind of loose and everyone’s

cooking food. It’s often in beautiful, remote countryside
locations, and people can go for walks. If it’s close to the
beach, they can go for a surf in the morning before we
start recording. I like my own gear, I like my mics, and I
e

know exactly what they do. With the way I record in

different locations or different country houses, you never
el

quite know what you’re going to get until you’re there. It’s
always the luck of the draw, but you always just make it
work and that’s part of the fun of it.”

Liam>>
mp

46/Tape Op#131/Mr. Judsen & Mr. Boehm/


I purchased the 110s mainly due to my fascination of the
album 3rd/Sister Lovers by Big Star, which was recorded at Ardent
Studios in Memphis in 1974. The sound of this album, along
with the other Big Star records, has intrigued and maybe
haunted me for nearly 20 years, the bass amp was mic’d with a
Beyer M160 into an EMI preamp and compressed through an
IGS Audio TUBECORE, and taken direct through a
Universal Audio SOLO 610.”
Liam’s EMI preamps have some back story: “It’s an some bass bleed into the overheads. “It’s such a joy to track a monitors. They sit in an acoustically-treated
interesting one. It’s a portable 4-channel microphone mixer band that can play well,” he remarked. “The only band and converted den in his house in the
made in Homebush here in Sydney – actually, I know the
building it was made in, as I drive past it all the time. It was a
from the late ’60s / early ’70s called an EMI OBA-1. It was member that we re-cut all his parts for is guitarist Fran Keaney, Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles.
four mic input unit that summed to a mono output, made for
outside broadcast tasks for the ABC [Australian Broadcasting
Corporation]. When I got it, it was all original and in very
good condition. I used it for a short while as a mono preamp
(or sometimes actually did some blending of several mics to it’s
mono output). The issue is that it lacked headroom on loud
sources – like electric guitar – as it had no input pad. It
crunched real bad in a nasty way. I used it a bit on vocals and
acoustic guitar, though I also wasn’t completely mad about the
signal-to-noise on the output, and, truth be told, it had a bit
of an odd tone. But hey, it looked cool! I decided to get it
looked at by Rob Squire in Adelaide, a wonderful technician
who runs Pro Harmonic. <www.proharmonic.com/> He
t)
modified it for direct outs for all four channels, whilst adding
switches for pad, phase reversal, and 48v phantom on all
channels. By bypassing the original summing transformer and
(a
coming out of Rob’s output cards, all my issues had gone away.
The unit changed from being a curio into the most-used and
dependable piece of gear in my collection. It’s clean, big
sounding and works on everything. On RBCF, I used it for all
electric guitars as well as drums at the Melbourne sessions
where we cut ‘Bellerine’.”
e
“Electric guitar amps were mic’d with either an AEA R92
ribbon mic, a Shure SM57, or sometimes a cheap Chinese
el
ribbon mic that I love. All went through the EMI preamp and
compressed with a bunch of different things depending on the
tune, but often a Buzz Audio DBC-20. The vocal mic varied
mp
depending on the tune and who was singing, but more often
than not I used the Beez Neez mic. The preamp was usually the
re
Electrodyne, but sometimes the Spectra Sonics. I always
compress vocals whilst tracking – sometimes lightly, sometimes
really hard if I think the effect of it is going to pull something
I P
cool out of the performer. I often use a Pete’s Place Audio
BAC-500 compressor, which is my favorite vocal compressor,
EM
though I do change it up from time to time.”
’s
Liam tracked the band live, including the bass amp, and
that is pretty much what you hear on the album, including
iam
L
<<
Mixing with Doug Boehm
After the tracking sessions, the files were
sent to Doug Boehm, who had mixed previous
RBCF records and was already slated to mix
this new album as well. Besides RBCF, Mr.
Boehm has worked with a wide variety of
artists, including The Vines, The Pharcyde,
Miley Cyrus, kd lang, Rickie Lee Jones, Katy
m
Perry, Ezra Furman,, Elliott Smith, Battleme,
co
Girls, Booker T Jones and even Devo! Doug
works as an engineer, mixer and producer,
although these days he says 80% of his work
is mixing, which he does from his home
studio, Rehab. “Send your songs to Rehab,”
Doug deadpans when I ask about the name.
)
When Doug mixes at Rehab, he uses a
ot
Universal Audio Apollo Twin Duo, a UA
Satellite, and a pair of Mackie HR824
(d
who plays acoustic guitar while the other two guitarists play “I did a lot of listening tests before I bought
electric.” Fran had previously always just pulled a direct for the Mackies,” says Doug, “and they’re the best
the acoustic and Liam did this as well, remarking that, “It sounding monitors I found at any price. The
sounded okay; not great but it worked.” Then they decided to bottom end is really good, and I always say that
l
overdub the acoustic with the Bees Knees mic and there was bottom end is what separates the men from
no turning back. “It just sounded so glorious. It made me really the boys. When I go to other studios where
ai
appreciate what he brought to the band, which is a real glue friends are working, I realize that I have a full
between the two electrics – this rock-solid acoustic down the octave more bottom end than their monitors
middle. The beautiful close mic with all the zing and none of do [at the other studios]”
the plastic-y DI sound. It was still good to track him live with After hearing about this setup, I asked
gm
the DI, because the other guys feed off his energy, but then Doug if he did any analog summing or if he
we’d replace it and there was no more shitty DI sound was fully in the box: “I went down the rabbit
anymore.” hole of analog summing for a while. I went to
The band tracked without headphones except for the different studios with Neves, APIs, and SSLs,
drummer, Marcel Tussie, and Fran on the acoustic. Liam has a and really listened to my mixes summed or
six-channel ART Head Amp 6 headphone amp he relies on for not, and on lower track counts like under
cue mixes that allows for “more me” or even individual mixes eight or so, I couldn’t really tell the difference,
fed from his RME interface. Monitoring was done on Focal but on higher track counts, when it got above
CMS6s and KRK VHT 6s, with Liam set up on a large table in 16 tracks or so, it sounded better summed on
the same room as the band. The owners of the tree house were the analog consoles. I was getting ready to look
out of town for two weeks, and nice enough to let the band into – and buy – some analog summing box,
stay there for that time, but unfortunately, as Liam explains: but after a surf session with my buddy Dave
“We didn’t quite finish the record in that time, so I ended up Cooley (an amazing mastering engineer), he
driving down to Melbourne (I’m from Sydney) and suggested I check out the Slate Virtual
completing the album in their office / rehearsal space above a Console plug-in. [not to be confused with the
shop on one of the busiest streets in Melbourne. It was Slate Raven virtual console -editor] I installed
nowhere near as acoustically sweet as the treehouse, but that and never looked back. Virtual Console
nevertheless we re-cut an entire song and finished all the emulates analog summing and sounds great
others and it ended up sounding great.” while allowing me to use a Neve on drums,
API on vocals, or whatever I want.”
Mr. Judsen & Mr. Boehm/(continued on page 48)/Tape Op#131/47
 Seeing as Doug is working 100 percent in the box, I picked his brain on his go-to plug-ins: “My go to vocal compressors
are PSP’s Vintage Warmer 2, UA/Empirical Labs’ Distressor, and Soundtoys’ Devil-Loc Deluxe. For other instruments,
most of the heavy lifting goes to the Kramer PIE and UA Fairchild 660. My main EQ is the UA API 550A but I also use their
BX Digital V3 and sub filter. For HP and LP filtration the Waves REQ2 and Elysia’s Niveau get the call. My go-to delay is
Soundtoys’ Echoboy for sure. I utilize many different reverbs with various decay times. I really like the Valhalla reverbs,
Soundtoys’ Little Plate, PSP’s Pianoverb, and the UA AMS 16 and EMT 140. I use a lot of saturation plugs as well, like
Soundtoys’ Decapitator, UA ATR 102, NI Driver, Lo Fi, and CamelCrusher.”
Doug said that Hope Downs was mostly recorded live, which made the mixing easier, but the challenge was in the three
different guitarists.
“A lot of choices have to be made in terms of what people are listening to. Because the band is pretty much a democracy,
I’d get a lot of different notes back from them and have to tell them, ‘Look, I’ll read the notes, take them each into
consideration, and then decide what’s best for the song.’ That’s ultimately what they wanted.” The other challenge for Doug
in the mixing was the mono overhead mic. “I have a love/hate relationship with mono drums. I don’t like the energy of the
cymbals in the center, because it competes with the vocals. What I did on Hope Downs, and what I often do these days, is

m
manufacture a stereo field for the drums where there isn’t one. I don’t recall exactly which mic I used, but I’ll usually pull a
Doug>>

room mic or even a floor tom mic that’s catching the ride nicely and use that as one side of the stereo field. The transient

co
designer plug-ins that have come out have changed everything for this kind of application, and I rely heavily on Waves Smack
Attack to mold the extra mic into part of the stereo field.”
To wrap it all up, the album was mastered by Nao Anzai, back home in Melbourne.
<www.rollingblackoutsband.com>
So that was the path of Hope Downs; from a cabin in rural Austraiia to a den in suburban Los Angeles.
<www.liamjudson.com>
Definitely one of my top five albums of 2018! r
<www.dougboehmmusic.com>

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48/Tape Op#131/Mr. Judsen & Mr. Boehm/(Fin.)

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Behind The Gear
Austrian Audio
This Issue’s Creator of Capsules
Made up of former AKG employees,
Austrian Audio is a new company
located in Vienna. I sat down with
Kent Iverson, Head of Marketing and
PR (former AKG Director of Marketing
and Product Management), and
Christoph Frank, Senior Acoustics
Engineer (also formerly of AKG), to
discuss the plans for this new
company.
How was Austrian Audio started?
Kent Iverson: The company was founded by 23 former
AKG employees, with three of the former directors,
including Director of Engineering, Director of Product KI: It depends on the product line. I would consider
Management and Marketing, and Director of Sales,
who is also our CEO. In 2016 it was announced that
Harman was being acquired by Samsung, and that
officially transpired around the beginning of 2018.
Samsung/Harman gave all of the AKG professional
employees notice that their positions would be
eliminated and that manufacturing was being moved
out of Austria. Ironically, there had been some
discussion in the halls of AKG for some time about
possibly forming our own company. Many of the
engineers felt that they were largely doing
maintenance engineering and there was not enough
corporate-level interest in allowing them to try new
ideas. Now with our own company, our engineering
team is free to pursue their ideas.
What do you mean by “maintenance
engineering”?
KI: Things like introducing a new version of an existing How are the third-party capsules
t)
product or working on ways to lower the production
cost of an existing product.
Where has manufacturing of AKG
products been moved to?
(a
KI: Some things have been moved to Eastern Europe,
and anything that could possibly be made in the Far
East has been moved there. Some of the
manufacturing equipment is very specialized. For
example, when the AKG K812 headphones were being What products are in the works?
e
manufactured in Vienna, we made the diaphragms for KI: Our first product, “Aurora,” is an analyzing test and
them here. Headphone diaphragms can be very
el
complicated. They are not simply a flat membrane,
and can have varying density as part of the design.
No one sells a diaphragm stamper, heat treater, or
mp
anything like that, so some of the machines on the
50/Tape Op#131/Austrian Audio/
production-line testing of acoustic components like
transducers, as well as circuit boards and completely
finished and assembled products. If there is an
electrical signal, our system can test for it and assure
quality of AC, DC, RF, frequency response, THD, and
by Bruce Whisler other parameters on an assembly line and it all occurs
automatically and without the need for a highly-
skilled operator. The first hardware product will be a
large-diaphragm condenser microphone with a lot of
interesting features that I cannot reveal at this time.
A large dual-diaphragm condenser is
exactly what I would expect from
former AKG engineers.
CF: Certainly that is AKG’s legacy. But while AKG had a
long and wonderful tradition, a tradition can also
factory floor were completely designed and built by
become a cage. You will see a lot of new ideas in our
our in-house engineers.
new microphone that would not have been possible
Was Austrian Audio able to acquire some under the umbrella of AKG. It will resemble the best
of this equipment from AKG? of what AKG did in terms of sound, but it will also
KI: We did a deal with AKG where we bought as much
m
incorporate some very unique usability features that
as we could – everything from office furniture to
have not been seen before in a microphone. It will
machinery. In fact, some people are still using the
co
almost be three microphones in one.
same desk that they had with AKG! But
So the new microphone may have more
Samsung/Harman took some machinery to the new
switches than the 414?
manufacturing locations, including the K812
CF: Actually it will have fewer switches, but you can do
diaphragm stamper that I mentioned.
more with it! But it is still a traditional true-
Had the introduction of lower-cost
)
condenser microphone. Everything is pure analog –
condenser microphones in recent we are not using any DSP or anything like that.
years put financial pressure on AKG? Tell us about your new capsule and how
ot
it relates to the legendary CK 12 brass
anything that descended from the original AKG
ring capsule.
capsule to be the best-in-class at what it does. The
CF: Ours will be a very traditional capsule, but designed
(d
lower cost condenser mics are usually built around
outsourced capsules. Just a few manufacturers make
the capsules and then various companies will design
so that it can be built more efficiently. One strength
of the CK 12 was that the polar patterns were very
precise throughout the frequency range, and this is
electronics to go with them. The AKG 414 capsules
not necessarily true with many large-diaphragm
were always made here in Vienna, and employees
condenser microphones. The external dimensions of
l
were usually not promoted to working on capsules
our new capsule are nearly identical to the original CK
until they had been with the company for ten years
12. The dimensions have a lot to do with the
ai
or so. When AKG introduced the lower-priced
performance, and the CK 12 was very good in this
Perception series, they did use some of these third-
regard. However, the CK 12 was very difficult to
party capsules in order to keep the cost down. But
manufacture. There was a lot of mechanical work that
AKG had enough purchasing power to sometimes help
gm
could only be done by hand. Automated machines are
these manufacturers improve their manufacturing
very expensive and high-end microphone capsules are
processes. So the lower priced models often had AKG
not manufactured in great enough quantities to
technology and tuning in them even though they
justify the investment in automation.
were not an AKG capsule.
Yes, I have read that about 2,500 AKG C
12 microphones were built during its
produced at lower cost? ten-year run, so that would seem to
Christoph Frank: High-end capsules are produced one at
be only about one mic per working
a time and diaphragm tension is carefully controlled.
day.
The outsourced capsule manufacturers usually tension
CF: Exactly. So we have come up with a capsule design
an entire sheet of gold-sputtered mylar and then
that is very traditional in terms of acoustics, but we
mount the diaphragms for twenty-five or more
are mounting it together with new materials which
capsules simultaneously, so the diaphragm tension is
makes assembly much faster. The new capsule uses a
less uniform.
ceramic-on-ceramic interfacing of the capsule halves
where most manufacturers use a metal-on-plastic
interfacing. Ceramic has many advantages. It is stiffer
measurement software/hardware suite for
and more temperature independent than the plastic
manufacturers in the audio industry. It offers a
rings. This is why we have only three screws that hold
customized hardware solution in the form of sensor
the halves together and lock the tension in place,
inputs into a computer running proprietary software.
whereas most capsules use many more screws. It also
Aurora is intended primarily for high volume
 has a higher density, which improves mechanical You make the mic diaphragms here? I see that the chamber has the needed
isolation. Some of the critical parameters like CF: Yes, we buy the gold-sputtered mylar from a company huge ducts for HVAC.
membrane tuning are now partly automated. Our new in Germany that many mic manufacturers buy from. CF: Yes, this part also came from the old AKG building.
design has much greater consistency, capsule-to- Then all of the tensioning and gluing is done here by The large channels reduce the airspeed which reduces
capsule, than was achievable with the original CK 12 hand. the noise.
capsule. What other products are you working on Clearly Austrian Audio is an experienced
On the Austrian Audio website you have a or hope to work on? startup built from an AKG foundation,
paper on the CK 12 capsule and it KI: We are looking at headphones; both in-ear and over- but it takes a lot of capital to get a
suggests that the capsules were hand the-ear models. There will definitely be a high-end business like this going. How have
tuned at the factory, and this would model in the plans, something along the lines of the you guys managed to finance it?
require the capsules to be AKG K872. We are quite interested in noise-cancelling KI: Like anything in the audio industry, the best way to
disassembled to change the thickness headphones and have a lot of expertise in this area. make a million dollars is to invest two million! The
of the spacer rings and then We also hope to be a developer for manufacturers of heavy lifting was all done by Martin Seidl, former
reassembled. Bluetooth, wireless, and noise-cancelling chips. They Director of Sales at AKG and our CEO. As I said earlier,
CF: Yes, the spacing between the diaphragms and the need products to be developed, like headphones, that we had a lot of frustrated engineering talent. Once
backplates is critical to the microphone’s polar use their chips so that they can sell more chips. Other Samsung announced they would be closing AKG in
response, as is the acoustic resistance between the areas of interest include small-diaphragm condenser Vienna we had no choice but to look for an alternative.
capsule halves, which in the CK 12 was also partly mics and RF wireless. Martin started calling people who might be willing to
determined by a spacer ring. With both the brass and Can you show me the new microphone? invest in an audio engineering company in Vienna,

m
plastic CK 12 capsules it was difficult to maintain these KI: [laughs] Sorry, only the capsule at this time. where we have the talent but costs are high.
spacings precisely in the manufacturing process. A gap Are you interested in the consumer Thankfully Austrian law requires a generous severance

of 20 microns (.00079 inch) might give a cardioid
pattern and a gap of 22 microns (.00087 inch) might
result in a hyper-cardioid pattern. The CK 12 was
known for its very consistent rear rejection of around
20 dB, but achieving this required hand tuning of each
co
market? package when a company is closed, so that helped us
KI: Yes, although most of the products we are working on with the transition. Additionally, we have been able to
right now are aimed at the professional audio market, generate some revenue by hiring out our engineering
we are interested in the industrial and consumer and consulting services to other companies.
markets. We have a consumer product in development When can we expect the new Austrian

)
individual capsule. With our new capsule we have that unfortunately I cannot reveal at this time, but it Audio condenser microphones to be
come up with a manufacturing process that allows this is really cool! available?

spacing to be much more precise. In fact, we have filed
a patent on our new process. We are using automotive
grade Swiss meshes for the acoustical resistance
between the capsule halves, and it is very consistent
so we don‘t need to tune each capsule individually.
The brass ring CK 12 capsule was
assembled with multiple screws, but
the later ULS series capsules were
assembled without screws. In fact, I
have read that they were glued and
that this made the critical spacings
ot
CF: For professional products we do a lot of lifespan KI: Our first two microphones will debut at Frankfurt’s
testing where products might be in the climate Musikmesse in April of 2019 and will feature our newly
chamber for weeks. For automotive products you have developed “Open Acoustics Technology.” It will be a
to test across a wide range of temperature and large diaphragm, dual and true-condenser microphone,
humidity conditions. With our chamber we can try to
simulate the entire life-cycle of the product in a
compressed time frame. We have the climate chamber
(d with a number of novel and inspirational new features
and tools for the musician and engineer. Our first
professional headphones will be unveiled at
right next to the anechoic chamber so that we can Musikmesse as well. Stay tuned and stop by to see the
bring products up or down to a certain temperature new products! r
l
and then quickly move them into the anechoic <www.austrian.audio>
chamber and measure their performance.
ai

you mention less consistent from What audio products or components Bruce Whisler is the Director of Audio Technology at Clemson
capsule to capsule. require the most climate testing? University in Clemson, SC.
CF: Actually, the capsule for the 414 ULS series was CF: Dynamic speakers are the worst, because their
gm

pressed together with a plastic ring, not glued. This materials are not so robust. Headphone drivers have a
works well for the initial assembly, but is a problem if lot of plastic parts and glues.
you need to do any kind of service. If you take it apart Your anechoic chamber is impressive. www.tapeop.com
the plastic ring will be damaged such that it will not KI: Thank you! There is a funny story around it. The
press back together tightly. Our new capsule is going anechoic chamber that AKG had was in a rental
see more of our
to return to using screws, just not so many. building. It was one of the largest chambers in Europe bonus/archived
t)

What can happen to a mic that the

capsule might require service?
CF: The really old CK 12 capsule had trouble with the
(a
at the time, but was in a building that was much larger reviews online!
than we needed for Austrian Audio. The owner of the
building wanted to rent it to a new tenant but was, of

membrane material losing tension over many years. course, not able to find a renter who wanted an Tape Op is made
This can lead to problems like the membrane touching anechoic chamber. Ultimately we were able to strike a possible by our
the backplate. So re-tensioning the membrane was the deal with the owners and move the chamber to our advertisers.
most common service need. It also had a problem with current location. We finally completed the installation Please support them and tell them
humidity. In the C 12 tube microphone the heat here in June of 2018. you saw their ad in Tape Op.
generated by the tube actually helped keep the CF: And this installation actually performs better than
e

diaphragm dried out and stabilized, but when they the one in the previous AKG location. In the old
el

switched to the transistor version they started having building the walls around the chamber were concrete,
more humidity problems with the old capsule. This is but here we were able to use two layers of drywall
one of the reasons they switched to the plastic mounted on isolation plates, and this acts as a plate
capsule. Actually, there is a lot of plastic in the original absorber down around 20 to 30 Hertz.
mp

CK 12 capsule as well.
Austrian Audio/(Fin.)/Tape Op#131/51

Steinberg
Cubase Pro 10
Cubase is my primary DAW. It offers me the best
performance and user experience for recording and mixing
music – whether I’m running it on my Microsoft Surface
hybrid tablet/laptop with a portable stereo interface, or
on my purpose-built rackmount PC with 194/196 channels
of I/O. Cubase is celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2019,
and before I tell you what I love about Cubase, let me
introduce the two pro audio veterans who joined me for
this review. Michael Romanowski, owner of Coast
Mastering in Berkeley, CA, is a longtime user of Cubase
and its sibling Nuendo. Author and film/television
composer Alan Tubbs is a newcomer to Cubase, having
relied on SONAR [Tape Op #116] for many years, until
Cakewalk ceased operations. -AH
MR: Nuendo has been my reliable, tried-and-true DAW for
recording and mixing since it was first released on the Mac
in 2000. Like the digital audio industry itself, it has come
a very long way; and Steinberg has been leading the
industry in terms of features, functions, ease of use, and
sonics. In 2000, Cubase was not much more than a MIDI
sequencer, but it evolved exponentially to get to where it is
now, as Cubase took on more and more features of Nuendo
and started to shine as a standalone professional
production tool – even to the point that Nuendo
and Cubase would leapfrog each other at each new release
cycle. When I bought a Cubase license – somewhere around
version 5 – to complement my Nuendo rig, I was eager to
try out new features that would speed up my workflow and
help me be more efficient and creative. Eventually, as the
version releases progressed, the two systems became more
alike while serving the niches each occupied – Cubase for
music production and Nuendo for post production and live
sound. And now, here we are with Cubase Pro 10 – one of
t)
the most fully featured and easiest to use DAWs available.
AT: Years ago I was looking for a DAW for home use. It
quickly came down to Cakewalk and Steinberg, and I
eventually went with Cakewalk Plasma, which was one of
(a
the first “looping” DAWs after Sonic Foundry’s Acid debuted.
That settled the question for me, and I stuck with Cakewalk
for the next ten years or so. After the death of Cakewalk and
SONAR (and resuscitation under BandLab’s free but
stripped-down re-release of that DAW), I’ve compared a
e
couple of replacement DAWs and learned a few new things.
Any DAW can do just about what any other one can do, and
el
it seems every DAW does some tasks easily and naturally.
Cubase stands out as an integrated, professional answer to
studio needs.
mp
52/Tape Op#131/Gear Reviews/
AH: This review would be twice as long if we collectively
described all our favorite features in Cubase, so we’ll have to
settle for a subset of highlights. I’ll start with my favorite
aspect of Cubase. ASIO Direct Monitoring allows automated,
near-zero-latency input monitoring – without opening an
interface-specific monitor-mix application – even for tape
machine-style punch ins. On my PC, equipped with an RME
HDSPe MADI FX [Tape Op #91], the roundtrip latency is
.07 ms with ASIO DM, and therefore, monitoring latency is
only limited by the speed of the A/D and D/A converters in
use – no matter what buffer settings I choose. Who needs Pro
Tools | Ultimate if I can punch-in and monitor 194 input
channels to 196 output channels on my “native” system with
sub-millisecond latency? My second favorite Cubase feature is
seamlessly integrated pitch and timing correction.
MR: VariAudio, first introduced in Cubase Pro 5, is a
toolset that offers precise editing of the pitch and timing
of audio events, directly within the DAW. With the latest
VariAudio 3, tuning vocals or other monophonic sources has
never been easier and more complete. You can adjust the
scale and timing; straighten segments or notes; and even
change the formants (which can, for example, change a
vocal timbre from male to female, or old to young). You can
also specify how each segment transitions to adjacent
segments – smooth and flowing, long to short, wavering to
straight, etc. Quantizing can be absolute or relative. It is all
extremely flexible, and super easy to edit and create
natural-sounding melodies and harmonies (vocal or
otherwise) that blend in and stay in key with the chord
tracks. One great trick, for example, is to create MIDI notes
from kick drums, and pitch them to the bass notes or key
of the song. Another related new feature is the Audio
Alignment tool, which is great for matching takes of any
kind of audio, like solos or alternate takes.
example, is effortless with Audio Alignment. Choose a
(d
AH: Matching the timing of doubled vocals or guitars, for
reference track and your target tracks, adjust settings for
Word Match, Time Shifting/Stretching, and Precision – and
boom! Perfectly stacked tracks. Cubase Pro 10 also offers
l
tools for manual alignment, including the ability to overlay
translucent waveforms in the Sample Editor pane, so you can
ai
edit, warp, and match waveforms visually.
AT: I like how the various panes in Cubase are available
within resizable Zones to the left, right, and bottom of the
gm
main sections of the Project timeline and MixConsole mixer
windows. Each of these Zones contain multiple tabs, and you
can see and control almost everything you would need to,
within these various Zones, without a bunch of windows to
keep track of. As much as I’ve come to depend on the
Multideck window dock in SONAR, I like the ease of opening,
closing, or flipping Zones in Cubase. It works.
AH: Meanwhile, some functions and settings require more
space than a Zone can offer. For example, clicking on any of
the «e» icons will open a secondary window, like the Channel
Settings panel, which includes a comprehensive Channel
Strip that is now easier to tweak and rearrange to your liking.
MR: Soapbox alert: There are so many really great tools
out there for shaping sound creatively – and that is awesome.
However, I am a fan of trying to stay with similar tools within
the scope of each project. For example, having 15 different
types of mic preamps on a recording can sound less than
cohesive; each might be great, but together they might not
be additive to the cohesive sound of the whole. Hardware and
plug-ins are the same for me. I like the sound of a console,
because I like the sound of a particular console for a project.
The updated Channel Strip in Cubase Pro 10 is like a complete
old-school console. With it – and only it – you could make
unbelievable sounding records. The tools are that good. I
haven’t found any other DAW that I can say that about. There
is a full complement of EQ, dynamics processing, tape
saturation, and more.
AT: The rest of the “goodies” you get with Cubase Pro 10
are also comprehensive and well executed. Of the 75 audio
effects plug-ins included, some are standard effects you
would expect, while others are more advanced. For example,
there are multiband processors for compression, expansion,
and envelope shaping. These work well and do a great job of
illustrating graphically what they’re doing. The many reverbs,
delays, and modulators cover the bases, all the way up to the
multichannel convolution reverb REVerence.
AH: REVerence not only includes many more impulse
responses in Cubase Pro 10 but it also has a refreshed look,
as do most of the plug-ins that were carried over from
previous versions. Of the new effects, my favorite is Distroyer,
a parametric distortion plug-in with a vast range of sounds –
from subtle overdriven harmonics, to fuzzy hair, to sonic
m
destruction. And with frequency targeting you can do things
like blow out the low frequency resonance of a kick drum, or
co
accentuate the bite of bass guitar notes.
AT: Cubase Pro 10 also comes with many virtual
instruments to cover a wide gamut of applications. The SE 3
version of the sample playback workstation HALion Sonic is
great for acoustic instruments, as well as synthesizers and
hybrid sounds. Groove Agent SE 5 covers drums, percussion,
)
rhythms, and pad-based control. Retrologue 2 serves up
classic analog synths. Padshop is a granular synth. And those
ot
are only some of the VST instruments that are included with
Cubase Pro 10.
MR: In this regard, Cubase is not the little brother
anymore, and hasn’t been for a while. I come from a
background of tape machines and analog hardware/consoles.
MIDI, which was a great strength of Cubase early on, was
never a go-to for my music production; it was always a tool
that I used only if absolutely necessary. Groove Agent SE 5
and the expression capabilities of the other VST instruments
within Cubase Pro 10 have encouraged me to explore new
creative choices.
AH: A total of 75 audio effects and 18 MIDI effects plug-ins
are included with Cubase Pro 10, as well as eight virtual
instruments. Accessing all of these plug-ins and instruments in
the Project window is easier, now that you can drag-and-drop
plug-ins from the Media rack located in the Right Zone. In
addition, Cubase Pro and Cubase Artist now support MIDI
Polyphonic Expression input devices, including multidimensional
controllers from the likes of ROLI and Roger Linn Design. Cubase
Pro also includes VR Production Suite for virtual reality
production, including head-tracking and GoPro VR Player support.
MR: Another great new feature in Cubase is the ability to
save and selectively restore snapshots of the MixConsole. This
frees you up to try different strategies of a mix and return to
a previous mixer state – or combine different aspects of
several mix ideas together. In the past, you would have to
save multiple versions of a project, and keep track of changes
to the mixer versus edits in the timeline – a very inefficient
and cumbersome process, especially with larger projects.
AH: For the past few releases, MixConsole has allowed you
to freely set the number of faders shown on-screen. When
you change fader width, the size and layout of the individual
controls respond accordingly. (This makes it possible to place
an LCD monitor over your mixing desk or DAW controller and
align virtual channels to physical channels.) Fader resizing
works even better now, because Cubase 10 finally supports
high-DPI displays, so legibility is much better, even with
dense fader arrangements. In macOS, Cubase looks great on
Retina displays, throughout the whole application. In
Windows 10, Cubase itself is rendered perfectly on high-DPI
screens, but third-party plug-ins that lack high-DPI support
are often cut-off when they scale themselves improperly. One
workaround is to override “Scaling performed by Application”
in the Properties window for Cubase in Windows 10, which
will force third-party plug-ins to be rendered at 1:1 scaling.
There are many other improvements that deserve at least a
quick mention: improvements to Add Track, Offline
Processing, and Side Chain workflows; AAF import and
export; Latency Monitor; conversion between multichannel
audio tracks and individual mono tracks; the video player
following edit point instead of transport location; and an
actually context-sensitive right-click context menu.
MR: Not everything is perfume and roses with Cubase 10.
I would like to see the manual back in the Help menu. I don’t
want to go to a website (assuming I am connected and not
on-location), or dig through the downloadable PDF manual,
just to find an answer for an option or procedure. (On a
related topic, if you want to get a more experiential and in-
depth look into Cubase, Steinberg runs an official Cubase
YouTube channel that features product specialist, cool guy,
and guru of all things Steinberg, Greg Ondo.) Furthermore, I
will add that, although the visuals in Cubase are highly
customizable, the UI feels to me like pre-dystopian candy. I
also don’t like an overly skeuomorphic approach (we have
moved past the need to emulate every classic look with
virtual textures, shadows, etc.), but for me, Cubase is a little
too flat and visually distracting in many places. I want to
focus on what I am doing and not be distracted by trying to
mentally decipher icons, toolbars, and color coding.
AH: I disagree. The default color schemes in Cubase are
similar to “Dark Mode” in many Android and Windows apps,
where the “chrome” of the application recedes both in
brightness and importance, so I can focus on the actual
content and workflow. Most of Cubase’s chrome is shaded in
dark gray, and there’s a consistent UI language for
interaction. At one time I was the User Experience Lead for
the largest publisher in the world. Maximizing the efficiency
of content-based interaction was my specialty; therefore, I
can appreciate Steinberg’s efforts in that regard. With that
said, the color schemes and various UI elements are
customizable, as are all the key commands; and the
Preferences panel is actually daunting in its breadth.
MR: Personal preference is a key factor in the decision of
which DAW you count on for your work. For me, Cubase Pro 10
strikes a great balance of being deep, fully featured, and
highly customizable, without being overwhelming. We must
t)
keep in mind that music is art. Creating art uses the opposite
side of the brain as understanding technically how to achieve
the best sonic results. Cubase offers the intuitiveness and the
sonics to keep me focused on the art, on the possibilities,
(a
and the final recording/mix – while providing me with the
all-important highest sonics and deliveries. Certainly, the
most important thing for me is that Steinberg has been
consistently pushing the sonic capabilities, and the audio
engine in Cubase Pro 10 has helped it remain one of the best
e
sounding systems available. As the Dos Equis guy might say,
“I don’t recommend DAWs very often, but when I do, I
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recommend Cubase.” Well done, Steinberg!
($690 MSRP; www.steinberg.net/en)
-Alan Tubbs <bnoir-film.com>
-Michael Romanowski <coastmastering.com>
mp
-AH
Black Lion Audio
PBR-8 500 Series Rack
Most 500 Series racks are just that – a hunk of rack gear
that’s not the sexiest piece of kit in the studio. They’re mostly
just a utility piece that’s simply designed to interface other
equipment with the really fun stuff in the 500 Series world.
Let’s face it, 500 Series chassis are mostly just a “power
supply” with inputs and outputs. So, how does one turn a
useful, but generally not feature-laden, piece of gear into
something special and unique?
The folks at Black Lion Audio had an idea that really sets
their new Patchbay Rack 8 (PBR-8 from here on) apart from
most, if not all, other 500 Series enclosures; they have
integrated a TT patchbay for all eight channels’ inputs and
outputs on the front panel of the chassis and also included
two sets of mults (one in and two outs). Black Lion teamed
up with Heritage Audio in Spain to build the PBR-8, taking
advantage of Heritage’s OST (On Slot Technology), which
provides power regulation per slot to reduce noise and
crosstalk. On the chassis’ back panel each channel has an XLR
input and output, but there are also DB-25 jacks to wire all
eight channels on a single cable – handy if you’re hooking up
to a patchbay with DB-25 connectors. An external “lump-in-
the-middle” style power supply feeds the PBR-8 via a locking
multi-pin connector.
So, why is this rack so cool? Imagine you’re traveling to
another studio and you want to bring a bunch of gear of your
own to plumb into the studio’s equipment. In the PBR-8, for
example, you could have six slots filled with a pair of
preamps, a pair of EQs, and a pair of compressors (essentially
a couple of channel strips), and then put a stereo bus
compressor in the final two slots. Now, imagine being able to
change the order of the channels (EQ pre-compression or
compressor) without having to reach behind the rack to
(d
after, or even the outputs of both channel strips into the bus
move cables around, chain outputs to inputs, or bother with
the studio’s own patchbay. These scenarios play out
brilliantly and are all possible via the front panel of the PBR-
l
8. Want to smash a vocal through a really vibey compressor
but also print a clean track in case you change your mind
ai
later? Great! Take the output of the mic pre into one of the
mult and then patch one mult out into the compressor and
patch the other straight to your converters or wherever else
gm
you want it to go.
The Black Lion Audio PBR-8 does exactly what it says on
the tin, but that’s so much more than almost any other 500
Series chassis available, and certainly any I’ve used. It
handled all the modules I loaded it up with as expected:
Cranborne Camden preamps [Tape Op #130], Rupert Neve
Designs’ 551 EQs, and the TK Audio BC501 compressor
[#112]. Additionally, a front panel patchbay is particularly
handy for plugging in extra gear I have on hand that isn’t
currently hooked up to my studio’s TT patchbay. I also took
advantage of the PBR-8’s patchbay for rearranging the order
of the EQs and TK compressor when trying out configurations
on the mix bus. Eminently handy and just a great thing to
have – the PBR-8 is the kind of gear you don’t know you’re
missing/need, but once you have it will wonder how you’ve
lived without it! Highly recommended!
($899 street; blacklionaudio.com)
-Don Gunn <dongunn.com>
Gear Reviews/(continued on page 54)/Tape Op#131/53
Sonarworks
Reference 4 plug-in
When producing, mixing, or mastering, how frequently do
you go out to your car and check your mix? Do you listen on
three different headphones and a few different Bluetooth
speakers? My answer to this question has changed over the
years, and today the simple answer is that I don’t feel the
need to check my mixes anywhere outside of my studio. That
is due to the fact that I trust that what I hear in my room
will sound very similar on most other playback systems. I am
fortunate to record in some of the best studios in the world,
but I am more fortunate that when I mix and master projects
I almost always work in my own studio. I know exactly what
my room sounds like. I have the gear and plug-ins that I rely
on and am intimately familiar with. When I used to record
and mix in different rooms every day, I was much more
insecure about my mixes translating well – I relied on car
checks and a trusted mastering engineer to polish and verify
my mixes. Over the years, I have tuned my room to sound
m
great to my ears, and also to provide a sound that translates
well to what others will hear on their systems. An important
co
part of dialing in my monitoring has been implementing
Sonarworks Reference 4 software for correcting the last bit of
EQ imbalances in my speaker/room setup.
Since 2012 Sonarworks has been improving the sound in
studios by providing software-based correction of the
frequency response of speakers and headphones. Over the
)
last seven years, the folks at Sonarworks have analyzed the
real-world frequency response of speakers in thousands of
ot
rooms and hundreds different models of headphones, making
Sonarworks perhaps the most experienced monitor testing
company in the world. The result of all this testing is the
development of Sonarworks Reference 4, a refined software
product that essentially flattens the frequency response of
monitors and headphones so that the sound we hear can be
trusted and consistent.
Reference 4 starts by measuring the speakers’ frequency
response through a calibrated measurement mic, and then
the software creates a plug-in preset that effectively
equalizes the sound from the monitors for a flat frequency
response. The Reference 4 Measure software walks the user
through the measurement procedure with onscreen as well as
audible instructions. The whole process takes about fifteen
minutes. You can use your usual audio interface and mic
preamp for this procedure. Headphones can only be measured
in a lab so Sonarworks has created profiles for hundreds of
different headphone brands and models, which are included
in the software download. Alternatively, you can purchase
individually measured headphones (from among more than
20 brands) with their own profile directly from the
Sonarworks store. To apply the Reference 4 EQ to monitors or
headphones, the Reference 4 plug-in is inserted on the
master or monitor fader of a DAW. Alternatively, the
Sonarworks Systemwide app can run without a DAW on the
built-in audio output of Windows or Mac computers so that
iTunes or any other audio source played from your computer
plays through the room correction EQ.
The Sonarworks DAW plug-in interface provides a variety
of user controls, including latency versus accuracy settings,
strength of correction, user or preset house EQ adjustments,
along with headroom adjustments and mono/stereo
monitoring modes. While these settings provide a
considerable amount of control over the plug-in, the default
settings will serve most users very well, and, as time goes by,
the user can experiment with the various plug-in settings.
The main caution in using a room correction DAW plug-in is
that you must understand how to bounce or print the final
mix without the Sonarworks plug-in processing the mix – it
should only process what plays to the monitors, not the
bounce path. There are various simple ways to avoid printing
a mix through the plug-in and lots of information is available
about how to achieve that.
The second use of the software is as the Systemwide app,
which provides room or headphone correction that affects
any audio that plays through the built-in audio outputs of
the computer. The Systemwide app launches at startup, and
the app’s controls can be accessed from the menu bar on your
computer. Systemwide detects when the Reference 4 plug-in
is active in a DAW session and prompts you to bypass the
Systemwide app so that the audio does not play through two
instances of the plug-in. Systemwide provides a similar user
interface to the DAW plug-in and both monitor and
headphone profiles can be loaded and customized.
I have been using Sonarworks software in my mixing and
mastering studio for over five years and for the last two years
with my laptop system. Sonarworks has refined and
streamlined the measurement procedure over previous
versions of the software, and I find that with Sonarworks
running I have more confidence that my mixes and masters
will translate well to other playback systems. I would always
recommend that the listening environment and monitors be
properly tuned, and set up before relying on any type of
corrective room EQ – even then you’ll find that Reference 4
provides a noticeable improvement in stereo imaging,
soundfield depth, and enhanced clarity in the mid and bass
frequencies. Sonarworks will optimize the performance of full
range monitor systems, and on smaller nearfield systems
t)
(a
e
el
mp
54/Tape Op#131/Gear Reviews/(continued on page 56)
Reference 4 adds noticeable clarity with a slightly more
extended low frequency response.
On the headphone side, I had never been comfortable
mixing or mastering on headphones until Sonarworks
headphone calibration came along and now use Reference 4
and Systemwide on my laptop with my Beyerdynamic
headphones, giving me the confidence to work on mixes and
masters on my laptop – even when using the built-in
headphone jack. I use the Reference 4 plug-in when I work
in Pro Tools or Presonus Studio One and the Systemwide app
when listening to streaming services or my iTunes library.
Speaker and headphone calibration is becoming more
common, and, among the many companies that have created
correction systems, Sonarworks provides the most
sophisticated and easy-to-use applications around.
($249 street; sonarworks.com) -Adam Kagan <mixer.ninja>
On the Record:
The Magic Behind
the Music (book)
Al Schmitt (with Maureen Droney)
This wonderful book tells the story of master
engineer/producer Al Schmitt’s career, along with many of his
thoughts about the art of making records, with a smattering
of interesting photos to boot. I’m not sure I need to remind
the readers of the artists Al has worked with, but names like
Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, Ray Charles, Jefferson Airplane,
Neil Young, Lady Gaga, Duke Ellington, and Diana Krall might
do the trick. As a youngster he experienced his uncle Harry’s
studio in New York City and eventually ended up there
engineering after a stint in the Navy. We follow Al through
NYC studios (with Tom Dowd!), and then to L.A., where he
(d
l
ai
gm
flourished at Radio Recorders and RCA. Stories of working
with composer Henry Mancini abound, much to my delight!
Along the way we find out which microphones and gear
Al has enjoyed over the years, and we learn some of his
studio techniques and how he listens to music and
recordings. Valuably, Al explains to us what he expects in
great recordings and performances. I love how the technical
side of making records is explained in this book. Rather than
dumbed down (or outright inaccurate) as some biographies
of our peers are, there’s real information about the process,
and the gear, but not at the expense of a good read. Al’s
opinions are obviously worth considering and getting them
in print here is perfect. Many thanks are due co-author
Maureen Droney, the Recording Academy’s Managing
Director of the Producers and Engineers Wing. As a recording
engineer and former studio manager, she knows the business
and the life and helps bring Al’s session tales into focus with
confident writing and pacing. If I have any complaint, it is
that it’s a relatively short book (159 main pages), and I
wanted to hear more of Al’s thoughts and stories. A great
m
read; buy it now.
($30; halleonardbooks.com) -LC
co
Musician’s Survival
Guide to a Killer Record
(book)
Mixerman
I’ve chatted with Eric “Mixerman” Sarafin in the past
)
[Tape Op #34] about his hilarious The Daily Adventures of
Mixerman book and reviewed some of his helpful Zen and
ot
the Art of… guides to producing, mixing, and recording.
With Musician’s Survival Guide to a Killer Record, Mixerman
turns the tables around and provides a guide for musicians
who are recording. The main gist of this book, and what
separates it from most every tome meant for the self-
recording musician, is that Survival Guide is an overview on
how to keep one’s eye on the real prize of making a
recording to be proud of forever. It’s not a simple how-to of
what gear to buy and set up in your spare bedroom; y’know,
those books that are out of date before they return from the
printer? Eric keeps the musician’s focus on important
elements the music, performance, and arrangement. What
everything really sounds like and what really matters. His
advice on how to navigate the worlds of editing, tuning,
and comping is invaluable. The pitfalls of over-tuning and
such are real, and Eric points out, “If you find something
distracting, fix it. Otherwise leave it alone.” That might be
the best advice for any session. Much of the book leads
back to the truth, that the source for everything is the
artist and is within their control, but they need to
understand themselves to begin with. I’m so pleased that
there’s finally a guide for musicians that tells them, “You
can do it with the gear that you already currently have
available to you.” Or how about, “The biggest reason that
recording is so difficult is that people believe their tools
will solve their recording problems.” The answer is all about
coming to terms with what is desired creatively and
understanding how to use what is available with judicious
decisions and real listening skills. I think I’ll be buying
cases of this book and handing it out as people enter my
studio. Near the book’s end Eric says, “Record-making
requires listening, and not just to what you are doing but
to what everyone else has done before you.” Yup. Like I
said, this is real advice.
($25; mixerman.net) -LC
 m
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Please Support Our Advertisers/Tape Op#131/55


Gear Geeking w/ Andy…
Recently, a reader asked me to recommend a cable tester,
and that got me thinking about what would be appropriate
for today’s needs — with networked audio being as
ubiquitous as traditional interconnection schemes. There are
$1,000+ analyzers available that will qualify twisted-pair
network wiring for the bandwidth, noise, and crosstalk
requirements of Cat 3–8 variants, but these tools are overkill,
unless you’re a professional installer. Instead, I get by with
the simple Trendnet TC-NT3 VDV & USB Cable Tester
<trendnet.com> that I purchased for $64. There are lower-cost
RJ45-only testers available in the $30 range, but I chose
this one because it also works with USB cables (up to
USB 3.0). It’s made up of two main components —
transmitter and remote terminator — that you attach or
separate as needed. Once you connect the cable you are
checking to both components, Quick Test mode scans for
continuity across pins, identifies standard pinouts, and
confirms pass/fail. Learn mode allows you to first set up the
tester for a non-standard pinout configuration using a
known good cable, and subsequently test other cables for
the same configuration. Auto Scan mode sequentially
illuminates LEDs corresponding to the pin numbers, clearly
showing which pins on one end of the cable go to which
pins on the other. Step mode does the same but allows you
to manually step from one pin to the next — very useful for
diagnosing cross-wirings. Scan and Step modes also check
the continuity of the cable shield, which is important for
some pieces of audio gear that require shielded twisted-pair.
Note that all of the LED indicators are on the transmitter, so
you can attach the remote terminator at the far end of a
cable and leave it be, while you proceed with the test from
the transmitter. There’s also a Blink Hub mode for checking
if there’s an active network device on the other end of the
cable, but be careful, because the presence of PoE (Power
over Ethernet) or a telephone line will fry the TC-NT3. Blink
Hub mode also allows you to use a tone tracer (not included)
to track down the far end of a cable. I also own the $140
dbx CT3 Advanced Cable Tester <dbx.com>, which is a
simple but beefy two-component continuity tester for many
types of studio wiring. It handles XLR, 1/4’’ TRS/TS, 3.5 mm,
RCA, 5-pin DIN (MIDI), XLR5 (DMX512), and speakON, as
well as RJ11 (telephone) and RJ45 (Ethernet). The two
components can be attached together onto an included tray
using twist-nuts, or you can separate the transmitter and
receiver. Unfortunately, there’s nothing “advanced” about
this tester, so you’ll need a second set of eyes if you’re using
the transmitter/receiver units in different rooms, so that the
two of you can verify if the pinout LEDs on the transmitter
t)
match the corresponding LEDs on the receiver. Also
exasperating is the lack of a manual step mode. There’s a pot
for changing the pin-sequencing speed, but trying to
identify cross-wired pins can be difficult, even if the
(a
sequence is slowed down — especially if you’re two people
with transmitter and receiver in different rooms. Another
problem is that the male/female XLR5 jacks are on the
wrong sides of the transmitter/receiver pair if you want to
test audio cables (versus DMX512 lighting controller
interconnects). I opened up the units and swapped the XLR5
e
jacks, so now I can test if an XLR5 stereo mic cable
el
terminates properly to XLR3 connectors. Note that the CT3
can’t test the shield of shielded network cables, and it can’t
do TT patchbay cables, but long-frame MT patchbay cables
work fine in the CT3’s 1/4’’ jacks. An onboard 1 kHz tone
mp
generator is super-convenient for testing headphones. –AH
56/Tape Op#131/Gear Reviews/
BURL Audio
BDA4 4-ch D/A converter
This “daughter card” works with the BURL B80
Mothership [Tape Op #84] and B16 Mothership configurable
audio I/O systems. When the B80 Mothership was
introduced, the BDA8 was the choice for D-to-A output
conversion, but it was not transformer-balanced like the
BAD8 A-to-D input cards were, instead using a direct-
coupled circuit with no capacitors in the signal path and a
discrete op-amp. I asked BURL’s founder, Rich Williams,
about this in Tape Op #105:
“Usually the outputs require even larger transformers…
because your output impedance is much lower than your
input impedance. Burl input transformers are much bigger
than your typical input transformer. Our output transformers
are typically much larger and have more linearity on the low
end. I really wanted channel density; and I wanted
something where you could get tonality on the input, but
mostly preserve the linearity on the output.”
That totally made sense to me, and as a BURL B80
Mothership owner for a decade (It’s been that long?), I’ve
been more than happy with the sound of the BDA8. The first
song I mixed out of these through my Rupert Neve Designs
5088 console [#73] left a lasting impression, and I haven’t
looked back or thought about the lack of transformers on the
output. Until now. The BDA4 presents a 4-channel,
transformer coupled digital-to-analog converter card for the
Mothership line. As Rich predicted above, the transformers
are big (and heavy) and this only allows physical space for 4
channels as opposed to 8 in the BDA8 card. Is this loss of
“card real estate” in the Mothership chassis, and higher cost
per channel ($375 vs. $225), worth checking out? Like all
things BURL, it is.
(d
This BDA4 isn’t just a couple of new components slapped
into the same circuit boards, it’s audio circuitry redesigned
from the ground up. I’ll venture to call this card an “option”
instead of calling it a replacement, and I think any engineer
who has a decent pair of ears would agree. The electronics
l
sport BURL’s new BOPA14 op-amps (discrete, Class A with a
“minimal number of transistors”), and their BX5 output
ai
transformers. There are four simple five-segment LED meters
on the front – green, yellow, and red – but I never needed
to look at them, using meters in Pro Tools as usual. Outputs
gm
are simply four male XLR jacks, not DB25 like the BDA8 as
that would make no sense. A new DAC filter (on internal
jumpers) allows for a more forward midrange sound; see
below! Other jumpers allow for Avid delay matching for
hardware inserts and playback; something I didn’t need but
makes sense. But yes, electronics and features are great and
all, but we know the truth is in the sound. I’ve been so
happy with my original BDA8 cards that I could not imagine
what would be better. I think of my Mothership like an old
multitrack 2-inch tape deck – it just makes things sound
better and I can stop thinking about it. Now what?
I ran a series of meticulous listening tests over my ATC
SCM25A monitors [Tape Op #101]; something I hate to spend
time with but found necessary. All were signals from Pro
Tools | HD, coming through my 5088, and null set before
each test so levels were perfectly matched. For kick, snare,
and overheads from a recent rock session, kick felt deeper,
as if 120 to 200 Hz was better defined, and the very bottom
end had a tiny bit more low extension. Yes, the convertors
would null out against each other, but listening proved that
in the time domain they do sound different. Cymbals had a
slightly different texture, which was really hard to define.
Electric bass guitar DI also had only slightly more low end
extension but otherwise was pretty similar between the
units. On thin-ish female rock vocals, the “s” sounds were
popping out of the mix a little less, or in a different, more
pleasant, way. The singer felt a little less midrange forward
through the BDA4; just a tiny bit softer. Harsh, distorted
electric guitars sounded better, and more forward to me, in
my older BDA8 units, and I wasn’t surprised. If all I had were
the new BDA4, I’d be happy with guitars, but I know I’d be
grabbing the EQ and pushing the mids a little.
For full stereo mixes I went direct out to my Dangerous
Monitor ST [Tape Op #60]. Listening to some high res tracks off
Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, the BDA4 sounded more
spacious, with a wider stereo field than the BDA8, but the older
BDA8 sounded tighter, with more focus and (once again) a tiny
bit more midrange edge, keeping the mix in my face. If I was
mixing, this would make me work harder and the nicer sounding
BDA4 would make me enjoy the mix sooner! Hmm, wasn’t there
a jumper I could change to push the midrange a little? Yup, it
did the trick, and now I wish there was a switch on the front
m
panel for this option! High end sources in the mix reacted
similar to what I heard with cymbal tracks, where the BDA4 was
co
just a little “nicer” sounding but the BDA8 pushed a little more.
After testing and using on mixes, there was not a moment
of “this is always better” between the BDA4 and the older
BDA8 convertors. They are plainly different. From my notes
you can deduce applications where you might prefer one
over the other, and that’s cool. Just like I pick certain mic
)
preamps when I can, or use only the API or Neve preamps
on a classic console, the record is still gonna get made and
ot
sound excellent. I’m not sure I wanted to “think” about
different colors of D-to-A conversion within my B80
Mothership, but now I have to.
Rich at BURL dropped me a line to say, “The intention of the
BDA4 design is to fatten tracks and to add depth and peak
saturation, much like the B32 with the transformers engaged.”
As the B32 is a 32 x 2 hardware mix bus, I’m getting what he
means. The BDA4 presents a different sound that makes it an
excellent choice as the main output for anyone mixing in the
box. I would use it this way if that was how I always worked.
For me, there was now a big dilemma. My RND5088
console has 32 inputs. My Mothership was operating as a 24
in, 24 out I/O, with an Avid HD I/O below for “spillover.” I
already had an extra BDA8 ready to drop in, so I’d have 32
channels of output to directly feed my console. After trying
the BDA4, I was stuck. I couldn’t put in 28 channels of
output! That’d be nuts! I must confess, I have no affinity for
the sound of the Avid HD I/O. What to do? I bought an
empty BURL B80 Mothership chassis to put my new BDA4
into, and now I want to collect some more cards for at least
eight more channels of output, and maybe even some extra
inputs for overkill. (I think the band Poolside maxed me out
one day, so I’d better be set for sessions like those!)
Excellence in audio electronics design isn’t always
something I count on. Many companies’ “upgrades” sound
questionable to my trained ear these days. But BURL always
delivers, and the BDA4 is now another piece of gear I will
count on and trust.
(burlaudio.com, $1499 street) -LC
www.tapeop.com
see more of our
bonus/archived
reviews online!
 Triad-Orbit
Orbit Series O2X dual-arm
orbital boom system
If you’ve ever mic’d up a drum set, you are no doubt
familiar with the struggle for floor space among various
cymbal and mic stands – the traffic jam around the
snare drum is about as predictable as death and taxes.
If you’ve ever used multiple microphones in an iso
booth, you know that floor real estate is precious.
Perhaps someone is filming their acoustic guitar player,
but your mic stands look cheap and droopy, so you
hang your head in shame as a sad song plays softly in
the background. Well, luckily for all of us Triad-Orbit is
here to change all of that with their O2X boom system.
The O2X offers a crazy amount of flexibility and
stability in a well-designed, compact package. It’s a
little difficult to describe everything that the system
offers, but if you visit their website there are videos
that show exactly what the O2X is capable of, as well
as other specs and details. In short, the O2X is part of
Triad-Orbit’s innovative stand system and includes four
different extension arms; two long (15-24.5”) and two
short (9.5”-12.5”). These arms are interchangeable and
provide many options, such as reaching the short and
long sides of a grand piano for instance. The long arms
contain graduation markings to help with stereo
mic’ing or Decca Tree configurations. On top of all that,
the apparatus that holds both arms can swivel, thereby
accommodating movement of the entire system with a
single adjustment. There are other features as well, like
Quick-Couplers at the end of each arm that allow you
to effortlessly pop mics on and off (so satisfying), and
the ability to adjust the legs independently. Even with
no arms attached, the O2X works well as a stereo bar
and sets up easily for a M/S, Blumlein, or X/Y (using
the deepest shoulder notch) mic configuration.
In use, the O2X is perfect for a bunch of recurring
situations such as mic’ing the top and bottom of the
snare drum, two floor toms, an acoustic guitar and vocal
at the same time. A grand piano setup is easy, or even
mic’ing a guitar amp (though I did find that this works
best if your amp is on an amp stand or off of the floor
in some way). Triad-Orbit also offers mounting
accessories for videographers, so you could potentially
mount cameras and lights on the O2X if that’s your thing.
If I had to be critical of the O2X, I would say that
it almost provides too many options. I’d prefer a clamp
system rather than a screw-based system for extending
the body and arms of the stand, though I realize at that
t)
point they’d need to provide replacement parts for
when the clamp eventually strips. The current screw-
based system results in occasionally moving the mics
(a
when you’d prefer they not be moved, but the benefit
is that the stand will probably last forever, with no
expected wear and tear – I’ll take that compromise over
a clamp system failing and a $5,000 microphone
hitting the floor or your clients’ instrument! If you’re
looking for a sturdy, elegant solution for multiple
e
microphone situations, you should definitely make it
over to the Triad-Orbit website and see what they have
el
to offer. ($395 direct; triad-orbit.com) -Dave Hidek
mp
Audionamix
Trax Pro SP & XTRAX STEMS
Welcome to the brave new world of DSP! Along with folks like
iZotope, Audionamix is on the cutting edge of spectral based DSP
technology that can do previously unheard of things with audio. These
products are both based on being able to take a stereo mix of a song
and separate out the vocals from the music, and even separate the
music from the drums. There are two basic uses of this kind of product,
one creative and one forensic, so in general this will appeal to two
different types of users. Copyright infringement aside, being able to
pull stems from music will be super useful to people working in
electronic, pop, and hip-hop genres. Being able to pull out a vocal from
a snippet of music and then sample and loop it could be huge for those
producers. The second, more forensic category, is for those folks who
hope they’ll never need this software but then something comes up and
they do need it. I’m in that category. I recently helped produce a live
recording of a band at The Fillmore in San Francisco. To make a long
story short, the band’s crew shorted out our split in between sound
check and the show, so we lost the vocal feed on the first two songs
m
of the multitrack. We did however have the two-track mix from the
front of house console. After meeting with the nice folks at Audionamix
co
during AES, this seemed like a good test for their software and services.
I started with Trax Pro SP because I assumed Pro means better –
right? Well yes and no it turns out. Trax Pro SP is Audionamix’s legacy
product that’s most advanced in terms of options. But more options
mean more complexity and more skill needed by the operator to extract
the vocals. As I was only trying to help out the producer on this project
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and not mixing it, Trax Pro SP left too many decisions in my hands that
I wasn’t comfortable making, nor did I have the time to learn the
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software in enough depth to really get the best results. The results I
got using the automatic extraction were frankly not that good to the
point of really not being useful. I wondered if I was just doing
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something wrong or missing something, so I called Ellie McNeil and
Steve Oliver at Audionamix’s offices, and they were nice enough to
explain to me that, as I’ve summarized above, Trax Pro SP was going
to take me some time to learn and I’d have to make decisions best left
to someone else with more skill level or who was directly mixing the
project. But Ellie told me that their newer, entry level product XTRAX
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STEMS used the same technology but also used a machine learning
component that might yield better results with an automatic
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extraction. Their proprietary algorithms are based around artificial
intelligence in the form of deep neural networks. Ellie went on to
explain; “Audionamix has a team of researchers dedicated to
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developing new artificial neural networks fine-tuned specifically for
vocal source separation. From an ever expanding and diverse aural
library of noise, background music, and vocal content, the algorithms
are continuously trained to become more adept at separating vocals,
be it speech or singing voice, from any other complex soundscape.” So,
my next step was to try XTRAX STEMS on the same tracks, and I’m happy
to report that the results from this program sounded much better and
were pretty much usable. The producer who was overseeing the project
was largely impressed with the quality of the vocal extraction, so if my
client is happy, I’m happy! Plus, XTRAX STEMS is significantly more
affordable than Trax Pro SP. I should note that XTRAX STEMS requires
an internet connection to operate, and can take some time to process
the tracks as it’s essentially communicating in a bi-directional protocol
with Audionamix’s servers to upload, analyze, and download the audio
and stems. This is promising, because as the Audionamix processes and
neural networks get more refined and advanced the end user benefits
from these updates. Lastly, if you just don’t have the time to deal with
any of this yourself, the Audionamix team can extract your audio for
you. It’s not cheap at around $160 per hour, but they’re experts at what
they do and have an extensive list of credits with major film studios
and record labels. If you need the best results and have the budget (but
not the time), this might be a good option for you. I sent the
Gear Reviews/(continued on page 58)/Tape Op#131/57
 Audionamix team a 30-second piece of audio for them to
extract the vocals from and it was definitely the best
sounding of the three extractions – although the entry-level
XTRAX STEMS extraction came very close. To be honest, I like
making music, not fixing it, so I hope I never need this
software again, but it was interesting to learn more about
it and I’m amazed at how far this technology has come.
Additionally, if you do need to extract vocal stems, I can say
the entry level XTRAX STEMS does a pretty amazing job of it
at an affordable price.
(Trax Pro SP $999, XTRAX STEMS $99; audionamix.com) -JB
Earthworks Audio
DM20 DrumMic / CMK4 Mic Kit
Earthworks has made well-regarded condenser
microphones for over 20 years. I’ve been curious about their
drum mics for quite a while, so I was stoked to receive a
CMK4 mic kit for review. The CMK4 kit provides four DM20
mics and clips inside a Pelican style suitcase. The DM20 is
the latest evolution of Earthworks’ series of condenser mics
designed for close placement on drums (it replaces the
DP30/C, which was more expensive with a higher output).
Physically it resembles a Shure Beta 98AMP: the capsule
lives in a tiny right angle “snoot” head, which is mounted
on a sturdy but thin 5-inch gooseneck, which is connected
to a stainless steel base that’s the size of an average small
diaphragm condenser. The included mic clip is the
Earthworks RM1 RimMount, which clamps onto a drum rim,
so no stand is required.
Rather than do any tests first, I pulled the mics out of
the shipping box and put them right to work recording
Pinto’s Slunk LP at Sharkbite Studios. We set up the band in
the live room without headphones, and I mounted DM20s
on drummer Scott Cook’s vintage Ludwig Club Date kit with
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a 12-inch rack tom, and two floor toms (14 and 16-inches).
I’ve used the LP Drum Claws a lot, so I know that the “no
stands” thing isn’t always the paradise you’d like it to be;
rim mounts are fussy to reposition in their own way. This
was similarly true for the RM1s. If you like your tom mics
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close to the drum (I do), it takes some maneuvering; one
might be tempted to have the gooseneck come straight up
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off the base and curve over the drum in one dimension, but
in fact it’s often easier to bend it sideways and point the
mic over the neighboring lug. That said, the DM20’s
goosenecks hold their position surprisingly well, and using
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fewer mic stands is nice – especially in most studios where
there’s an eternal shortage of working short stands (if you
record rock music, buy 12 shorties and four tall stands, not
the other way around)! We got great sounds quickly, and got
right to tracking, but a few songs in we were surprised to
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see that the mics themselves had slipped down in their
clips! Gravity and vibration were too much, and the clip
couldn’t hold the mics’ smooth stainless steel base
vertically. We repositioned the mics and got back to work,
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but after another slip or two, I gaff taped the mics to their
clips. At mix time I didn’t have do much at all; the toms
sounded superb. I did clean up the tom tracks in Pro Tools,
“hand gating” them, which I do for most records as it
reduces cymbal wash, sympathetic “singing” toms, and
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phase issues – even though it’s boring work it beats fucking
with noise gates! For the Pinto record I almost skipped this
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step because we weren’t going for super clean drum sounds,
and because the bleed sounded good! With three toms,
bleed was present for sure, but it provided a solid, crisp
picture of the hi-hat and ride cymbal, and Scott’s playing is
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very controlled so there was no cymbal bashing to contend
58/Tape Op#131/Gear Reviews/(continued on page 60)
with. But after a quick internal debate, I hand-cleaned the
tom tracks. After that, I needed very little EQ, and no
compression or transient shaping. Nice!
Finally, I did some testing in isolation without the pressure
of a session. Assisted by my 12-year-old son (Q: “Dad, how
long will this take?” A: “Steve Albini uses these mics on every
session!”), I set up my Ludwig Classic Maple kit with a Black
Beauty snare, then mic’d the snare with a DM20 and a Shure
SM57, then the toms with a DM20, Josephson e22S, and the
venerable Sennheiser MD 421. This was immediately
educational. On snare the SM57 and DM20 were vastly
different. The DM20 sounded like I had added a bottom snare
mic thanks to the extended top end (the DM20 frequency plot
shows a bump at 10 kHz, particularly behind the mic, and you
can hear it), and lack of 3 kHz bump. Again, more and
brighter bleed, but classy sounding. On toms the DM20
sounds like a “condenser 421” if that makes sense – smoother
midrange and brighter overall, with similar low end, and much
nicer-sounding (but also louder and brighter) bleed. Unlike
some other condensers, the DM20 handles high SPLs easily,
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and its output is still reasonable, so it doesn’t crush preamp
inputs. The Josephson e22S is still the unbeatable boss to my
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ears, but at over three times the price it’s not really a fair
fight. The DM20 held its own, and I’d choose it over a
Sennheiser 421 in many cases. Other obvious mics to compare
against the DM20 would be Shure Beta 98s, Beta98As, or
Beta98AMPs. Unfortunately, I don’t own any of those! If
you’ve done such a comparison, let me know how it went.
)
Earthworks mics are made in the US, and the DM20 has an
impressive 10-year warranty.
ot
(DM20 $419, CMK4 kit $1699; earthworksaudio.com)
-Scott Evans <antisleep.com>
TK Audio
TK-lizer 500 equalizer
My mix bus is a little crowded. Generally, I have three to
four units doing very subtle things. I enjoy the cumulative
effect of several stages of iron and discrete op-amps soaking
up transients and warming things up. I seem to get away
with a single bus compressor, like many may use. Often,
before or after my analog mix bus chain, I find myself
needing a little additional EQ to sweeten or polish things a
bit. I tend to reach for a more transparent, phase-linear,
digital EQ for this stage. This works well, but I have been
looking for an analog solution to replace the plug-in I’ve
been using and have had my eye on the TK Audio TK-lizer
500 EQ for this purpose. What I found, just like when I
pulled the trigger on the TK BC501 VCA compressor [Tape Op
#112], was exactly what I was looking for – and then some.
The TK-lizer 500 is a, dual mono, three-band Baxandall
style EQ, with a high-pass filter and level control on each
channel. Handmade in Sweden, in 500 Series form, the big
advantage of the TK-lizer 500 is that it also has an internal
mid/side matrix. At the flick of a switch, the left channel
controls the middle, and the right channel controls the sides
– no need for any extra routing. While this EQ begs to be
strapped across stereo sources, it’s useful in dual mono, and
can be employed on single channels while tracking or
mixing – all at a very nice price. All controls are stepped,
making it easy to recall settings with minimal notes.
Let me just get to the guts of this review. Big, wide EQ
curves used in mid/side are awesome! The amount of front
to back control that you have is powerful – both as a
problem solver in a mastering scenario, or as a creative
exciter in a mixing situation. Maybe even used to turn down
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something like those annoying percussion tracks ruining the
intro to Don Henley’s “Boys of Summer”? What ever you
want to do with it, a little goes a long way as it refocuses
and enhances the stereo field.
I inserted the TK-lizer 500 across a mix I wasn’t exactly
happy with. I didn’t record this song, and I was struggling
to deliver it with the tracks I was working with. On the mid
channel, a subtle low shelf boost at 48 Hz left the bass and
kick a little more solid. Boosting the sides at 132 Hz
brought out an additional fatness in the overall track.
These two adjustments together helped this particular mix
sound considerably more deep and powerful. Having the
option to use separate high-pass filter settings on the
middle versus the sides is very tactical. I found on the sides
that a boost at 870 Hz added some richness and width to
midrange instruments like guitars. It also helps add some
stereo excitement to the ambience and effects. A boost at
12 kHz down the middle added some crisp top end to many
of the important elements, like snare, vocal, and lead
instruments. On the other hand, cutting a little high end
on the sides is nice for softening the overall feel without
altering things too much – for example, taming cymbals
that may be a little too wide or brash in the mix. All of this
works well because of how smooth sounding the curves are.
I tend to be a little sensitive with high frequencies, but
even on a heavy, blown out rock track I was able to add
some air that never really sounded harsh to my ear.
Although I’m using small 1 to 3 dB boosts in the above
description, even cranking the knobs to the max still had
a smooth effect on the audio. You just need to be careful
to not overdo it and end up with a phasey stereo image.
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60/Tape Op#131/Gear Reviews/(continued on page 62)
While enhancing in mid/side, the music was just livelier
and more 3D, and in bypass the mix sounded dull and less
exciting. The level knob on each channel (in addition to
the bypass switch) makes accurate A/Bing simple.
Independent level control of mid and side makes the TK-
lizer 500 a great tool for subtle stereo widening. Level
knobs also let you monitor just the mid, or the sides as well
– very cool!
While mid/side operation had me excited, the TK-lizer
500 was also very nice on stereo overheads. I was able to
totally reshape the cymbals while maintaining a natural
sound. On tracks like guitars, the EQ is a little too clean
and wide for my taste. I prefer a more colored and vibey EQ
for guitars and bass generally. While tracking, the TK-lizer
500 was great for shaping kick and snare drums. Even a
large boost of high end still sounded sweet on a snare top
mic – something that can typically make cymbal bleed get
raunchy. Back to mid/side really quick; I was able to do
some real rad stuff with a spaced pair of room mics. This is
a great tool for re-biasing poorly recorded drum overheads
and drum rooms.
An EQ of this quality that is stereo matched, works in
dual mono, and offers a built-in mid/side matrix is an
amazing value – it’s worth the ticket price for its mid/side
capabilities alone. I keep discovering new things this EQ
works well on and I have the feeling my mix bus will be
even more crowded than before!
($1299 street; tkaudio.se)
-Justin Mantooth <justinmantooth.com>
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Royer Labs
dBooster mic preamp booster
The recent history of audio has seen many companies
come out with outboard phantom powered microphone
amplifier devices intended to be used prior to the input stage
of a proper mic preamplifier since the Cloud Microphones
Cloudlifter CL-1 [Tape Op #85] was introduced in 2009.
Typically, these are inline units containing a small amount of
electronics in order to boost the mic’s level near the source,
and most attempt to set their input impedance to conditions
favorable for the output of ribbon microphones – a few even
offer variable impedance features. I’ve long felt that these
units gained popularity due to the proliferation of all-in-one
computer recording interfaces, many of which feature built-in
mic preamps with less gain, sound quality, or headroom than
a boutique piece of outboard gear. Since most of my recording
time is spent in a professional studio, I’d never tried these
devices and considered them something I didn’t need. Then
Royer Labs sent me their new dBooster to study, and I’ve had
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to reconsider my snobbish stance.
Royer’s dBooster (built in the USA) will look familiar to
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anyone who’s seen many of the other in-line boosters, with
XLR male and female jacks on each end of a small, squared off
case. There’s a switch for the two gain settings of 12 or 20 dB,
and that’s really all you’ll see. But if you use your ears, you’ll
notice a lot is going on. I set up my pair of (now classic) Royer
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R-121 ribbon mics [Tape Op #19] through a Great River MP-
2NV [#28], and with a low-level source playing in the
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background I set the mics to identical output levels with and
without the dBooster in place. My first impression was that the
high end opened up quite differently on the dBooster mic. It
sounded different; not just like a simple gain boost as I had
imagined. Cymbals opened up with a tone similar to a small
diaphragm condenser mic, yet softer overall as ribbons tend to
do. The 12 or 20 dB boost switch was handy, and I noticed
that at 20 dB the highs opened up more than at 12 dB.
I tried the dBooster on several of my ribbon mics with
similar results in all cases. Keep in mind that any of these
boosters will aid in getting more gain out of a ribbon mic, but
I found that if the source was very quiet the inherent
background hiss of the mic would end up the same with or
without the booster in place. This was the same with other
manufacturers’ boosters as well.
Popping open the dBooster was a shock, as it’s loaded
with parts. There are multiple capacitors for filtering and
regulating the incoming phantom power (the gain circuit
runs at 16 volts), plus for noise and RF rejection. Royer is
using four pairs of low-noise, bi-polar transistors for the
Class A gain circuit, and these transistors are followed by op-
amps on each leg of the output, providing isolation for the
transistors, a balanced signal, and a low impedance output.
Using the dBooster, midrange and lo mid frequencies that
usually poke out on ribbon mic tracks feel more “sculpted”
to me, with much less honk or dirty thud. For years I
wondered why anyone liked ribbon mics as drum overheads,
but with the dBooster I see why inline mic boosters have
become popular in professional settings, and I’ve found a
way to use ribbons on sources where I never would before.
Sometimes relatively simple devices like these come along
and change the way I will work from now on, and the
dBooster is one of them. No more snobbery for me!
($179 street; royerlabs.com) -LC
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 Chandler Limited
EMI Abbey Road Studios TG Microphone
Leave it to Wade Goeke at Chandler Limited to come up with a new mic circuit unlike any I (and
probably anyone else) have ever experienced. The full name of this new mic from the folks in Iowa
is the Chandler Limited EMI Abbey Road Studios TG Microphone, and that should help give some idea
of the pedigree as well as where it fits into the range of gear offered by Chandler Limited. Their
updates/recreations of some of the finest gear from EMI/Abbey Road are already modern classics,
and with the TG Mic they are bringing some of that outboard hardware influence directly into the
circuit of the microphone itself.
Though the TG Mic isn’t a clone, on the surface it looks like many other Neumann U 47-style mics,
but is finished in a beautiful dark battleship grey with the bold yellow of the Chandler logo
emblazoned on the front of the body. There’s an external power supply, a 4-pin XLR to connect the
PSU to the mic, a standard shock mount, and a gorgeous wood box for the mic – all the expected
accoutrements for a large diaphragm tube mic, except that’s where things begin to diverge!
While on the surface, the TG Mic looks like a typical multi-pattern tube condenser, it’s actually a
solid-state mic with its own power supply providing a higher and more consistent voltage than
standard phantom power. Switchable on the mic body is the choice of cardioid or omni polar patterns,
-10 dB pad, two high-pass filter frequencies (50 Hz and 90 Hz), and the two switches that really take
this microphone into uncharted waters. First, there’s the System switch and its options of A or B;

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according to Wade, these “modify the input structure” and affect the level and headroom to the mic
circuit. System A has higher harmonic content with about 6 dB less overall headroom to push the

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signal in a very present, mid-forward, and large way – everything I recorded through System A almost
sounds like it’s been compressed, but in the most subtle and musical way. Conversely, System B is
hugely detailed and uncannily natural, with an incredible amount of headroom – especially when used
with the -10 dB pad. This mic can handle kick drum blasts without a whimper.
Where both of these systems really come into play is when the last unique switch is introduced;

)
this is what truly transforms this microphone into TG Mic character. The large, five-position switch
on the back of the mic body is labeled Tape Equalizer – when have you ever seen that on a mic?

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The middle position (let’s call this #3) is labeled FLAT after the EMI console’s Tape Equalizer section,
and is the most moderate or neutral setting, however it’s technically not flat. Moving to the left and
switch positions #1 and #2 under the NAB/IEC heading are 7.5 ips and 5 ips; to the right (#s 4 and
5), the heading is IEC/NAB and 15 ips and 7.5 ips.

(d
Now you’re probably wondering what the hell is going on with this microphone, right? Back when
EMI was building mastering consoles in the late ‘60s and early ’70s, many times tapes were brought
in for mastering that were recorded on decks with different calibration than the playback deck in
the mastering room was aligned to; either the mastering decks had to be recalibrated to have the
same alignment curves as the source, or, in EMI’s case, you have the great minds of EMI’s technical
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department put those various curves under switches on the mastering deck so the engineer can just
select the proper one for the source tape and get on with his or her job. Wade had the genius idea
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of taking this tape equalizer circuit, modifying the EQ curves, and then applying them to the circuit
of the TG Microphone, which amounts to either bass or treble emphasis (positions 1 and 2,
respectively), or bass and treble emphasis (#4), or even greater bass and treble emphasis (#5).
Combining these various voicings with the two different high-pass filter settings, as well as the
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two System alternatives, gives an enormous range of sounds from a single microphone. I’ve used
the mic on voice-over spoken vocals, sung vocals, guitar amps, mono drum overhead, and front-of-
kit/front-of-kick duties. In no scenario have I felt the desire to switch out to a different microphone.
I do find I favor the settings with some low-frequency/bass emphasis (positions 1, 4, and 5); drums
sound larger-than-life, vocals are weighted more towards the chest/body-resonant frequencies with
less emphasis on sibilant ones (there is no lack of clear, open, high frequencies on this mic), and
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anything I’ve recorded with the TG Mic (both with and without compression following the preamp)
seems to sit in the exact place I expect it to in the context of a mix. I’m doing far less processing
in the mix to elements I record with this mic, and that’s a great thing.
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The audio world is full of clones, be it mics, compressors or preamps, all trying to generate that
bit of magic found in the original pieces of gear on which they are based. Because of this, I’m always
doubly impressed when a designer comes up with a wholly new idea and approach to a tool that
isn’t trying to be something else. Wade and the Chandler Limited team have knocked it out of the
park with the TG Mic – I bought this mic before asking if I could provide the review, so I’m personally
invested in it as a user, engineer, and studio owner, not simply as someone given a piece of gear
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to review. It really is that great, and now I want a second one because I can only dream of what a
pair of them are like as stereo drum overheads!
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If I had to list any cons against the mic or the package, they would be the power supply having
a non-standard wall wart adapter instead of a built-in transformer/IEC cable combo, and the generic
shock mount that needs to be treated with extreme care to avoid pulling the felt from the bands
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when pushing the mic into it. I replaced mine with a Rycote InVision [Tape Op #84] shock mount

62/Tape Op#131/Gear Reviews/(continued on page 64)

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 for additional security, and to not have to worry about tearing the felt. A carrying case for the
mic box, shock mount, power supply/adapter, and cable would have also been nice, but probably

Unit is pictured
would have added another $150 to the retail price. These are nitpicking issues and don’t reflect
in any way on the performance of the microphone itself. If you’re in the market for an incredible
all-around microphone that can sound like a whole stable of mics (and even added outboard!)
and would easily be the centerpiece of any studio’s mic locker, I encourage you to hear the TG Mic
for yourself. For less than $2000, it’s also an amazing value for something of this quality and

at actual size*
character. Highest recommendation!
($1849 MSRP; chandlerlimited.com) -Don Gunn <dongunn.com>

Soundtheory
Gullfoss EQ plug-in
I’m old enough to be wary of devices that claim to be cure-alls for making audio sound good.
Processing devices, such as Aphex’s Aural Exciter and BBE’s Sonic Maximizer, abounded in the ‘80s,
but most of the time I found the supposed sonic benefits of these devices to be far outweighed
by how they would also destroy a signal’s integrity. I am skeptical of anything that claims to
improve clarity and detail of a sound source, but I’ve fully fallen for Gullfoss, an “intelligent
automatic equalizer” plug-in. Quite simply, this EQ examines the audio, and 300 times per second
adjusts the sound. The parameters it changes have more to do with time-based frequency buildups
than a typical EQ’s set-and-forget format. The interface here has simply five main controls; in fact,
on my first use I couldn’t even figure out how to make anything happen, as everything is set to

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neutral and the audio passes through unaffected. Once I started nudging the controls around, and

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really listening, it all began to make sense. The Recover control brings parts of the sound spectrum
that are in the background to the fore. Think of the nuances of an upright bassist, where you might
hear mostly the booming notes and less of the articulation. Speaking of that, the Tame control
allows you to make the EQ look for dominant frequencies and reduce them. Imagine your EQ pulling
the dominant 100 Hz boom of an upright down automatically when the low tone appeared, plus
reducing the main note and harmonics above it when needed. The Bias control allows the user to

)
favor the Recover or Tame functions, but I would have preferred that the Bias adjustment be an
always visible left/right slider between Restore and Tame, thus making it always clear which one

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was being brought to the fore. Brighten, as the name implies, opens up the top end of the source.
This can be amazing, like on dead-sounding percussion or mushy vocal parts, but it’s also one of
those adjustments one needs to be very careful with. I found myself boosting many sources
initially, and then pulling the level back as I mixed further. I also was grateful that Brighten could
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go into the negative and reduce high end when Recover opened up a little too much top on certain
sources. The fifth control, Boost, isn’t just the simple makeup gain that I first suspected (the plug-
in automatically controls gain to match output to input) but a sort of Fletcher-Munson-based
loudness contour addition that can help the sound source survive low level listening or such. I
messed with it but never found it necessary for the work I was doing. There are also frequency
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slider bars, to left and right on the graphical EQ representation, that allow you to focus Gullfoss on
a selected frequency range only. This is smart. It allowed me to set up a very gentle version of de-
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essing, and to rein in bass guitar low end without affecting the attack. A cool feature, but one
that I did not know existed without some feedback from Soundtheory.
So, I may be skeptical, like I mentioned above, but even after half an hour of using Gullfoss
I was sold. I believe that Gullfoss’ creator, Andreas Tell, invented this EQ to use on stereo mixes
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and such, but because I didn’t know better I started out right away popping it on individual
tracks of a record I was mixing that had been somewhat ineffectively tracked. The vocals always

*Actual sound
sounded a bit too close to the mic as well as smeared in the top end, but with a light amount
of Recover the highs opened up, and Tame pulled back the honk and burliness of the bottom
end when it appeared. Percussion sources on this album were sometimes recorded on the
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harsher side, and hand drums went from awkward thuds to the sound of hands on skins. Directly
recorded bass tracks were able to be Tamed of dominant tones easily too. By this time, I had

is much larger
improved elements of the mix with Gullfoss and was feeling good, so I tried it on the mix bus.
Oh. Now I was wondering if I’d ventured into the psychoacoustic hell of Sonic Maximizers and
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was fooling myself. With the bus EQ reducing further dominant artifacts and opening up hidden
details on the whole mix, my job had just gotten easier. In the end, all these mixes used a fair
amount of Gullfoss and so did my following projects. Never has a plug-in entered my workflow
as quickly and permanently as Gullfoss.
Are there downsides? Not much. I was confused as to why there were no presets included.
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It seems to me some moderately set ones could be good during the initial learning curve. I
quickly created my own presets to use settings I liked on different songs for this album mix
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session, and the presets carried on to the next projects I was mixing. Also, it now works in
Windows and Mac OS, in the AU, VST, and AAX plug-in formats. But man, it’s good, it works,
and the reasons behind that make sense. Gullfoss is one of the reasons plug-ins exist, for me,
and is a promising glimpse into the future of audio.
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w w w. r e t r o i n s t r u m e n t s . c o m ($199, www.soundtheory.com) -LC

64/Tape Op#131/Gear Reviews/(continued on page 66)
Win a Sphere
Fab 500 Mic Pre!
“The Sphere
preamps sounded
powerful, solid,
and very well
balanced. The
overall sound was
about as real as you

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could hope for.”

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-Adam Kagan,
Tape Op #126

)
Enter to win here:

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Please Support Our Advertisers/Tape Op#131/65

 Aston Microphones
Stealth microphone
The Stealth is the latest addition to Aston’s product line. I’ve been an admirer of their
revolutionary designs since reviewing their Starlight small diaphragm condenser [Tape Op #123].
I then purchased the Halo Shadow reflection filter based solely on my experience with the
Starlight. Aston designs look cool, feel sturdy, and sound great! Reviewing the Stealth has been
no small task – it’s virtually four mics in one. A large sturdy broadcast quality mic with four
switchable voices, a Class A built in mic preamp with autodetect phantom power, and a unique
Sorbothane internal shock mount system. Needless to say, it lends itself to a wide variety of
applications in the studio and in live performance, so choosing what instrument to use it on
may be your biggest challenge.
The Stealth works both as a passive and active microphone. In passive mode the active
circuit is completely bypassed and the mic functions like a normal dynamic. Think drums,
electric guitar or bass amps, loud rock vocals, or podcasting and you’re on the right track. The
unique built-in Autodetect function senses the presence of phantom power and will
automatically switch on Steath’s built in Class A mic pre. The preamp adds 50 dB of gain –
almost twice that of a typical inline microphone preamplifier. This is excellent for subtle vocals,
acoustic instruments, and recordists who are working with preamps that offer less than ideal
signal-to-noise ratio. Think of the preamp on your $99 interface or old ‘90s era analog mixer

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that starts to hiss when you turn it up past 12 o’clock. Stealth will make it sound infinitely
cleaner. I will note that I did not notice any difference in tonal character whether the mic was

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active or passive. The preamp does not appear to color the sound at all; just adds a ton of gain.
I spent a great deal of time using Stealth to record female vocals. I set it up in parallel to
a Lauten Audio Clarion FC-357 large diaphragm condenser mic through a Universal Audio Twin,
using Unison Neve 1073 preamp emulators. The first thing I noticed was that in active mode,
the Stealth had significantly more gain. This shows just how much headroom is onboard the

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microphone itself. The second thing I noticed is that in position 1, or V1, the Stealth sounded
very similar to the Clarion. So to my ears, the Stealth is more than just a dynamic with a built

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in preamp, it’s a new hybrid microphone in a category of its own!
A bit about the four Voice modes labeled V1, V2, and G and D. Aston suggests they are
designed for male vocals, female vocals, and guitars respectively, with D being intended to
emulate a darker ribbon sound. According to Aston, the four voice modes are “not EQ filters,

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but contour networks, meaning the bulk of the signal does not pass through any sort of filter
circuitry. The whole signal is slightly attenuated, with some frequencies being added back in at
a higher level. This results in much lower phase distortion than conventional filter designs.”
Practically speaking, these four modes offer a ton of flexibility in finding the right sound for
your source. Switching between the four modes requires twisting a ring near the base of the
microphone. It’s a bit tricky at first and takes some practice to master. Aston provides a short
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video online to demonstrate proper use. For vocal recording I found V1 and D the most useful.
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V1 sounds the fullest and most natural to my ears, and even suited the female rock vocalist I
used the mic extensively on. However, since this closely resembled the condenser I was using
alongside it, I soon switched the Stealth to D to get a more full-bodied, darker compliment to
the bright condenser in order to give the vocal some girth.
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I was very curious to try the Stealth on drums – mostly snare. I typically use a Shure SM7
[Tape Op #36] for this application so I tested the Stealth on a two-day tracking session. The
mic itself is on the large side, like an Electro-Voice RE20, so it can be a bit tricky to sneak into
position depending on how tight the drums are set up. Also, it’s an easy target to get whacked
by a spirited drummer. The Stealth sounds tight and punchy as a snare mic in V1 passive mode.
I was satisfied with the initial setting, so I did not experiment with the other modes in this
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application. My instinct tells me the Stealth would also sound just as good as a kick drum, floor
tom, or hand drum microphone. Next, I tried Stealth on an electric bass amp. In V1 mode, it
complimented the DI signal quite nicely by adding upper midrange clarity to the fat direct
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source. On acoustic guitar I’ve often used a Shure SM7 with an inline microphone preamp, so
I wanted to see how the Stealth compared in active mode. Initially, I put the mic into G mode,
for guitar. However, this sounded a bit thin, and I don’t think it’s what the designers intended.
Overall, I found V1 and D the most appealing (depending on the acoustic guitar being played
and the performance style). For heavy strumming on a Martin D28, V1 sounded fantastic, rich,
and full, while D was better suited for a Gibson LG-2 playing subtle leads. For electric guitar I
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used the Stealth alongside an AEA N22 [#102] ribbon microphone. At first I tried G mode, and
this time it made way more sense, cutting through the murk of the amp cabinet and providing
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a rich, clear guitar tone. However, as the AEA N22 is an active ribbon and on the bright side,
I wanted to compliment this sound. I switched to D mode and, as with the female vocals, this
gave me something I could use to tone blend.
As you can see, and will hopefully hear for yourself, the Aston Stealth is a versatile
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microphone with truly unique features. It’s got gain, it’s got character, and it looks cool!
66/Tape Op#131/Gear Reviews/ ($399.99 street; astonmics.com) -Ben Bernstein <benbernsteinmusic.com>
 SPL
Crescendo mic preamp
(Cue Bon Scott howling “HIGH! VOLTAGE!”) The Crescendo, and SPL’s proprietary SUPRA
high voltage op-amps are an exciting innovation, and I believe it’s a first of its kind: an 8-
channel mic preamp operating on ±60 volt DC power rails (touted by SPL as “120V
Technology”). While most pro audio gear runs on ±15V to 18V rails or less, the Crescendo offers
a starkly logical alternative with a much higher operating voltage. The intention behind this
new design is to improve microphone performance and overall audio quality with much less
noise, a monumental amount of headroom, and virtually no opportunity for distortion or
transient “smearing.” After testing this meticulously overbuilt 3 rack space unit German tank,
it’s safe to say that SPL hits the goal spot on, and this isn’t just marketing hyperbole.
Setting up and using the Crescendo is uncomplicated, and the unit itself, while massive, is
really quite simple to operate. Each channel has just the basics needed: a large gain pot, -20
dB pad, polarity flip, and phantom power switches. Each channel also has its own true VU
meter with a switch to scale the meter sensitivity by -10 dB – IEC power connection, ground
lift, and XLR I/O are around the back. The back panel also offers a single DB-25 connection
for the eight outputs, which can be used instead of the XLR outputs (note that SPL claims
you can use both the XLR and DB-25 outs in parallel as a split if the impedance difference of
connected gear is not too great, and they recommend you avoid connecting a second input

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stage with transformers). I also liked that SPL prints all of the channel numbering and other
back panel info in two orientations, so you never have to read the panel labeling upside-down

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if you’re peeking at it over the back of a rack (why doesn’t everyone do that?).
My first tests were electric and acoustic guitar overdubs with a variety of mics including a
Royer R-121 [Tape Op #19], a pair of AKG C414s, and, of course, a good ol’ Shure SM57.
Although (as I discovered later) the Crescendo works well with longer cable paths, I brought
it into the tracking room to take advantage of a shorter XLR cable run and used the DB-25
connection to directly connect the outputs to my patchbay. The available gain range is 18 dB

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to 70 dB, and I found that the ribbon mic, in particular, responded really well to all of this
deliciously clean power: plenty of gain and amazing dynamics with no discernible noise. I

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usually reach for an EQ with ribbon mics, but surprisingly the high end response with this pre
seemed sweet and full of air on its own, differing distinctly from my other outboard mic pres
when used with ribbon mics. These subtle differences held up across A/B tests using other
mics, from wide-diaphragm condensers to smaller dynamics.
Next, I had an opportunity to test in another tracking environment and passed the ball to
my friend Larry Carr, an engineer and drummer currently working on an album for Sacramento’s
Tropicali Flames. Drums, upright bass, tenor sax, and guitar were all tracked live in Larry’s
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studio, utilizing all eight tracks of the Crescendo. Larry was impressed with the build quality
right off the bat, and we both agreed that having the Crescendo in line seemed to make proper
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gain corrections much more relaxed – as if every mic attached to this box could just breathe
while not having to work so hard. Translation: the sweet spot for each mic felt much broader,
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and even challenging dynamics felt super easy to dial in. For instance, the upright bass
performance in this group transitions between percussive “slaps” and smooth runs, and with
most mic pres, you usually find yourself straddling a fragile line between not enough gain and
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clipping. Not so with the Crescendo – with such a massive swath of dynamic range and
headroom, it just feels like you have more freedom, without any sacrifice in accuracy. In
addition to tracking to a DAW, Larry had the preamp running out to his 1-inch Tascam MS-16
tape deck, and it sounded terrific, with little articulations and subtleties translating with an
almost scary amount of clarity. Larry commented that even when pushing the gain range on
this preamp, the transient response was crisp and clear: “I can actually hear a difference!”
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Using the Crescendo immediately gives me the impression that I’ve just unlocked some new
and previously hidden level of fidelity across my whole mic collection. If I had a wish list for
this beast, it would be short, perhaps including a Hi-Z or 1/4-inch input stage. Frankly, the
only true downside here is the cost – at over $800 per channel, the Crescendo is a tough
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proposition for my project studio budgets. I would be more inclined to jump if this box were
closer to $3000 or $4000, but it’s understood that some magic just costs a lot. I guess it’s
like Bon sang on “High Voltage,” “I got to get my kicks some way!”
($6499 street; spl.audio) -Dana Gumbiner <danagumbiner.com>

Solid State Logic

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Fusion master processor

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Solid State Logic has dominated the analog mixing console world for rock, pop, and R&B
records for over three decades, and while DAWs have mostly taken over as production and
mixing environments, SSL has been expanding into digital consoles for broadcasting and live
sound. SSL also produces a line of rackmount and modular analog processors to please
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engineers and producers who crave the traditional SSL flavor. Recently SSL released Fusion, a
well-thought-out and truly unique analog mixing and mastering processor. In just a two rack
Gear Reviews/(continued on page 68)/Tape Op#131/67
space unit analog chassis, Fusion incorporates five individual analog processing sections that
effectively manipulate flavor, tone and color. Simple yet effective controls apply EQ,
harmonics and saturation, frequency based compression, and stereo image processing.
Additionally, it allows for several different internal signal flow paths and includes an external
analog insert point.
Fusion is designed to be used as a stereo mastering processor or as an insert on an
instrument or bus and easily handles levels up to +27 dBu, which is a few dB higher than
even most pro analog to digital converters can handle. Before the processors are applied, the
signal path of the Fusion provides an impressive frequency response of 5 Hz to over 180 kHz.
Getting to know this unit takes time, as all five processors interact to some degree with each
other. Finding the appropriate gain structure and sweet spot for each processing section can
take some experimentation. SSL allowed me several weeks to get to know Fusion while I was
mixing and mastering projects across a wide range of musical styles.
The input trim control provides ± 12 dB of swing and sets the initial signal level. Next
comes the high-pass filter with frequency choices of 30 Hz, 40 Hz, and 50 Hz or Off. In use
I found the 18 dB/octave filter to sound transparent and subtle, without noticeable phase
shift in the higher frequencies. Do not expect this filter to sound nearly as aggressive as the
low-cut filter on an SSL console EQ, as this high-pass filter is much more suited to very subtle
sub-harmonic shaping for mastering than brute force filtering used for mixing. This filter is
effective but also gentle and musical enough that it will almost intrude too much.
The next module is the Vintage Drive section, which provides a bypass button, a Drive
control, and a Density control. Drive affects the overall amount of saturation while Density
affects the amount of even versus odd order harmonics. An LED indicates the amount of
saturation occurring, and this section reacts based on the signal level after the unit’s input
level trim. While mixing, I found the Vintage Drive controls effective and useful for shaping
drum tones on individual tracks as well as on drum or drum/bass submixes. During mastering,
acoustic songs benefited from the added density of the harmonic drive, while harmonically-
rich rock and pop songs quickly changed character with even the slightest amount of
harmonic drive. Fusion’s drive section tastefully affects the midrange and upper midrange
harmonics, as compared to SSL’s VHD preamp circuit which seems to impart more high
frequency harmonic coloration and feels more like a traditional overdrive.
Fusion’s next processor is the Violet EQ; a two-band shelving EQ with selectable low
frequencies of 30, 50, 70 and 90 Hz and high frequencies of 8, 12, 16 and 20 kHz. Overall this
wide-band shelving filter behaves similar to a Baxandall style EQ, with low frequency boosts
and cuts gently extending to above 1 kHz and high frequency boosts and cuts starting as low
as around 1 kHz. When used with only one or two dB of cut or boost, this EQ can create a
subtle musical tilt across the entire frequency range. While the EQs provide ± 9 dB of gain, I
found that only one or two dB of adjustment got me what I needed during mastering. For
individual instruments, a larger amount of boost or cut may prove useful, especially when
exaggerating HF boosts into the HF Compressor – the next processor in the signal path.
I found the HF Compressor section to be the most inspiring processor in the Fusion. For
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acoustic masters, individual acoustic instruments and vocals, the HF compressor smooths out
peaky high frequencies, sibilance, and edgy transients in a musical way that reminds me of
the way analog tape saturation tames transients while slightly softening high frequencies.
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The user controls include a threshold adjustment with a range of ± 10 dB, and a crossover
knob sweepable from 3 kHz up to 20 kHz. As mentioned previously, the Violet EQ’s high
frequency boost can be pushed into the high frequency compressor to achieve some bright
and open tones that don’t sound harsh or sibilant. I found this useful on acoustic guitar and
especially on vocal tracks for hip-hop and EDM mixes where the vocal needs to be extremely
bright but not harsh. I don’t have any other processors (analog or digital) that provide
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transient smoothing as effectively as the Fusion does on vocal and guitar tracks.
The fourth processing section is the Stereo Image processor, which consists of a Space
knob and a Width knob. Basically, Space effectively spreads the stereo image beyond the
width of your speakers by boosting the low frequency stereo information – like a traditional
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shuffler. The Width knob simply adjusts the volume of the stereo (side) information in
relation to the mono (mid) information of a stereo track. This mid/side (Width) adjustment
creates a natural and realistic increase in ambience and depth of field while the shuffler
(Space) control can provide a more hyped version of the stereo information that often feels
like a slight chorus effect. Each type of stereo enhancement is useful in the right context
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and having both options provides a wide range of sonic possibilities.
The final processor in the signal path of the Fusion is simply an audio transformer that
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may be engaged or left off. In general audio transformers will slightly roll off bass frequencies
while adding bits of harmonic saturation, high frequency compression, and a pinch of phase
shift. Many well-regarded analog compressors and mic preamps derive a large portion of their
character simply from the choice of audio transformers. The tonal characteristics of a given
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transformer also relates to the level of the audio signal running through it. SSL’s chosen
68/Tape Op#131/Gear Reviews/(continued on page 70)
transformer would fall into the relatively uncolored family of transformers. A miniscule sub
bass roll off and mid-bass push can be heard along with a slight change in high frequency
harmonics. This effect is highly signal dependent, and while I found the transformer subtly
enhanced acoustic music, for harmonically rich synth-based pop, urban, and EDM music, the
transformer reshaped the high frequencies (particularly in the upper vocal range) in a way
that felt a bit buzzy to my ears. I found the transformer to be most effective on individual
mix elements and stems, but less effective on stereo mixes during mastering.
An important consideration while using the Fusion is the level dependence of several of
the processors. During mastering I typically reduced the input trim and raised the output
level. On individual tracks, however, I often pushed high levels into the Fusion while lowering
the output trim after processing the signal.
Each of the Fusion’s processor sections provides its own lighted bypass button, and the
processing order (including the patchable insert) can be switched around to many different
configurations. Further, the Fusion’s insert may be operated as stereo L/R or it may be
operated in a mid/side configuration. Lastly, the operation of the pushbuttons and master
bypass may be modified, providing options including pre or post input trim bypass modes,
LED brightness control and relay switch feedback settings. Also, an Easter egg of sorts has
been put into this hardware box, wherein a game of “Simon” may be played using the front
panel buttons. I’ll leave it to the user to learn how to enter the gaming mode!
($2495 MSRP; solid-state-logic.com) -Adam Kagan <mixer.ninja>
DrAlienSmith
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DirtMic-01 microphone
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The DrAlienSmith DirtMic-01 is an awesome “outside the box” mic for creating rich
harmonic distortion effects without a plug-in or guitar pedal. It’s very useful for blending
with clean vocals, bass, and electric guitar tracks in order to enhance a source’s sound. It
can also be used as a stand alone source mic for a purely distorted sound.
The DirtMic-01 is a modified stock Superlux D112/C harmonica microphone with the
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addition of a phantom powered distortion circuit inside, plus a transformer balanced output.
I was so excited to try this mic that I took it right out of the box and didn’t read the
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instructions – I’m too impatient, so it took me 15 minutes to realize this mic needs phantom
power. Aside from that, the mic was very easy to get used to. Just plug in and go!
DrAlienSmith claims it is the “monster of all character microphones” – I agree with this
statement. The distortion possibilities range from subtle to insane. To quote my studio
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assistant after hearing the DirtMic-01 on an electric guitar amp; “This mic is f’ing crazy man!”
Its simple but useful design incorporates a cool pre-gain volume pot (with clickable center
position detent) and includes a sturdy mic mount, which is often missing from bullet style
mics. The volume pot controls the level of distortion, so you can really fine tune the effect.
When it’s all the way down the DirtMic-01 does not pass signal. I found the mid position a
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good starting point for most sources, especially for vocals and drums. The more extreme
setting provided killer results on electric guitar tracks, adding an almost fuzzy synth element
to the sound when it was already sounding rich and nasty out of the amp.
Electric bass sounded super-present with DirtMic-01 mic volume pot relatively low and
lightly blended in with a clean source mic. Just adding a touch of this mic really made bass
tracks pop out. I even thought it sounded good on an acoustic guitar that was bleeding in
while I was tracking vocals with it and achieved excellent results when blending it in with
the clean vocal and acoustic mics to get a slightly overdriven sound.
The DirtMic-01 clearly has an excess of studio potential, with endless possibilities for
contorting sound. I definitely found myself setting it up just for fun whenever I had a spare
input during tracking sessions (without the band even knowing). I would then assess later
whether it made sense to actually use the distorted track. Though the DirtMic-01 seems to
be geared for recording applications, I imagine that it could provide a good solution for
vocalists wanting to add distortion effects to their live performances while having more
control over their affected sound – as long the FOH engineer knows what they’re doing!
In principle, I much prefer recording with this mic than creating similar effects in the box,
even if it means reamping with the DirtMic-01 – it just sounds more realistic as it’s true
analog distortion. Used in tandem with a clean mic on guitar or bass it’s like having an
additional amp. Overall, I found the DirtMic-01 more appealing for bass, vocals, and guitar,
but I did try it as a drum kit “trash mic” and, with the right band or song, it sounds great!
The DirtMic-01 is rad, but it may not be for everyone. One unit costs around $185 US including
the $14 shipping. At this price I think it’s well worth adding to your mic collection, especially
if you’re an adventurous recordist and not afraid to commit to radical sounds when tracking.
($220AUD plus postage, about $185 shipped; draliensmith.com)
-Ben Bernstein <benbernsteinmusic.com>
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Please Support Our Advertisers/Tape Op#131/69


Sound Devices
MixPre-10T & 10M interfaces
To piggyback on John Baccigaluppi’s End Rant musings “Give
Me a Hammer” [Tape Op #102 and #115], I have been looking
for a particular hammer that might serve as my aspiration to get
back to what fired me up about recording in the first place:
spontaneously capturing ideas as they arose, with no buzz-kill
effect of getting bogged in gear wrangling, as well as being able
to record other folks sans the same vibe-busting, head scratcher
moments while keeping things focused and chill. Add to that my
desire to be mobile, find unique spaces to work in, and
occasionally integrate video production, I may have possibly
found the holy grail in the Sound Devices MixPre-10M.
Okay, what is this thing? It is a multitrack, multi-channel
field recorder with eight high-end mic preamps fed via Neutrik
XLR combo connectors with some nice built-in DSP for reverb
and dynamics, and useful functions like click track, overdub,
punch-in (with cue points!), a touch screen, plus the ability to
record to both SD card and USB thumb drive (simultaneously
if needed) that does double duty as a USB interface.
For those of you who don’t know, Sound Devices has been
building high-end audio field recorders for the professional film,
video, and television industries for 20 years now. I had always
wanted to acquire one of their insanely well-built location
recorders, but as my career was shifting away from that type of
work I couldn’t justify the expense. Fast-forward to now, where
the tech has advanced to the point where I can get the utility
of my venerable Fostex X-15 Multitracker or the Tascam Porta
One Ministudio 4-track cassette recorders combined with the
super solid build quality of a Nagra and the sonic fidelity of
some of the finest mic pres and A/D converters available, all
wrapped up in a beautifully designed chassis the size of a
paperback book and assembled in the USA for under $2000.
The MixPre-10M is targeted for musicians and songwriters,
while the MixPre-10T is offers features geared towards sound
mixers and field recordists. Both models support Sound
Device’s Wingman iOS/Android app that provides Bluetooth
control of the mixer’s key functions. Note: recent firmware
updates have added support for third-party USB control
surfaces. I chose to demo the MixPre-10T (for its TimeCode and
HDMI functionality) with the Musician plug-in that provides
all the music creation features of the MixPre-10M – when used
in this way, the two units are nearly identical in functionality.
It’s also worth noting that there are some smaller siblings in
the line up with less I/O, etc. for less dough. All of them with
the M plug-in offer the basic features described.
Use case #1 – musical scratchpad: With our family summer
vacation in the Sierra Nevadas aborted due to forest fires, we
ended up renting a house in a nearby beach area – quiet and
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super chill. I seized the opportunity to toss a buncha gear in
a suitcase, including the MixPre-10T, some mics, a guitar,
harmonicas, cajón, and some small hand percussion. There
was a nice dining area in an atrium that I commandeered as
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my musical greenhouse. There I set up the MixPre-10T on a
decent video tripod I had. Sound Devices offer a PIX-Base
mounting system, but I was unable to demo this, which was
actually fortunate as it forced me to use the tripod, making
for a very flexible, ergonomic setup that I could quickly adjust
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from sitting to standing height, or pick up and move around
the room. Once I figured out how to create a project and a
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song using the small, but responsive touchscreen, I
configured the I/O and set some initial levels. Worth noting
here is that the SD card is inserted in the back, under the
battery sled, so if you needed to hot-swap a card while on
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battery power, you might find yourself in a pickle.
70/Tape Op#131/Gear Reviews/
There are two battery sleds available, one for the more pro
Sony L-type batteries (also available in generic form for
cheaper), and the ubiquitous AAs. I highly recommend
reading the white paper on AA batteries ahead of time
(available on the Sound Device’s web site) if you plan on
going the AA battery route – you may choose to invest in
some higher quality rechargeable batteries. I found that
certain batteries perform better and will provide the kind of
power needed to support the best performance of the unit,
especially in regards to mic preamp dynamic range (voltage
available over time, etc.).
Pressing on a Channel knob brings up the parameters for
that channel on the touch screen – very intuitive and quick.
What did take some time getting used to was the actual input
gain that is set by the dual-purpose headphone volume
knob/data wheel. I kept goofing this up as I am used to the
channel knob being the input gain – it takes a couple of steps
to select channel, select gain as the target parameter and
then twiddle the headphone knob. The channel knob controls
the monitor mix level by default, but at first I felt that level
setting or regular tweaking during a live show would be my
preferred default setting, with the assumption that the mix
level would be at unity gain. That said, once I was getting
proper levels, the mic preamps sounded super yummy. I had
some basic travel friendly mics, a Shure SM57 on cajón, and
Shure SM81 on acoustic guitar. The SM57 sounded quite
meaty at even moderate gain, but also had a nicely articulated
top end. The SM81 had even more defined highs as expected,
but not harsh, even when driven into limiting by the inline
analog dynamics. The self noise of the preamps was almost
unnoticeable, except for the fact that I kept mistakenly either
turning up or down the gain and/or the headphones and
found myself monitoring at too high a level a couple of times
and could hear the noise floor.
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Overall set-up was easy once I got used to the “operating
system” – I did some fun sonic experiments and could really
hear the ambience of the room with my modest microphones.
The one-button record feature is great, and the transport
joystick is super easy to use – even in a dark room with a
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guitar pick, drumstick, or other musical object in your hand.
There’s also a user programmable dual option toggle switch for
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functions such as inserting cue points, and a tone generator.
When I got home to try some overdubs on my “musical
scratchpad” ideas, I was able to plug my Fender Precision
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Bass with passive pickups directly in and get a solid level
and decent tone – quite usable, honestly. I tried the same
thing using the passive pickup on my acoustic guitar, but it
didn’t work out as well, likely due to the very low-level
output and impedance mismatching. I then tried out the
DSP reverb plug-in onboard which was quite nice; full, lush,
detailed, and believable without too much high end, but a
full midrange (the way I prefer it). The reverb is a global
effect, set up in the traditional way as a send and return,
with all channels sharing the same effect, so as to mimic a
natural acoustical environment and the sonic interactions
you would expect. The other effect available via the
onboard DSP is the Air effect, which is essentially dynamics
and EQ, targeted toward vocals, and only available on one
channel at a time due to DSP resources available. It skews
toward a pop vocal sound but can be nudged to a subtler
flavoring if desired. I tried it on the bass track, and it was
cool but felt it is best saved for whatever your “hero” track
might be. Obviously, you can opt for other options if you
plan to mix down on your DAW or console and outboard
gear, but it was great to be able to knock out a quick demo
with no other gear involved.
Use Case #2 – Live tracking: I was alone in the house
for a weekend, so I took the opportunity to set up my drum
kit in the living room. I did a super basic mic’ing technique
by putting a multipattern tube mic in omni mode on the
floor between the kick drum and floor tom and set a pair
of small diaphragm mics in an X/Y stereo pattern above the
kit. Greg Merriman came over to play bass and we simply
grabbed the direct out from the bass head into the MixPre-
10T. We jammed on some basic groove plus some songs we
cover in our dad band called Cheap Therapy. With some
judicious padding of the drum mics and the combination of
some dynamics on the bass head and the recorder, we got
some pretty decent tracks. I really liked being able to plop
the unit and tripod down to the left of my hi-hat, making
it visible and easy to reach while playing. I could also
surreptitiously flick the MixPre-10T into record so we could
just jam unselfconsciously. More than once the bass player
would say, “Do you want to record that?” and I would reply,
“I just did!” The preamps had plenty of headroom, and I
had fun being able to engineer while playing with ease.
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Use Case #3 – USB interface: The MixPre-10M can
operate as a 12-in/4-out USB interface. I approach USB
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interfaces with trepidation and was prepared for some
frustration here. I do think the included documentation
could’ve been more specific, rather than simply suggesting
that you will want your inputs configured correctly, so as
to route the audio from your DAW to show up via USB
inputs and back out for monitoring. Some screen shots of
)
the touch screen or, even better, an included preset that
you can simply load would have been ideal. I intentionally
ot
went into this blind, so I could have “fresh eyes,” and
definitely was reminded of how much I hate setting up
audio interfaces. Although class compliant, I suggest that
some device-specific drivers might aid in the set-up within
the application of choice, or possibly a standalone
editor/librarian to easily program configurations might be
handy. It did take me a while to get around to testing it
this way because I had to order a USB Type C cable. This
brings me to one of my usual comments; I appreciate it
when manufacturers can include these cheap cables so you
can “plug and play” out of the box. Sound Devices does
offer some nice accessory kits, but you will want a USB C
cable and the XL-2 (TA3-F to XLR-M x 2) adapter cable
pack. That said, I was able to get up and running with both
Presonus Studio One and Pro Tools and successfully
imported my recorded tracks into a session for overdub and
mixdown. You can also use the MixPre-10T as a mini mixer
at gigs for recording yourself while playing backing tracks
simultaneously.
Overall, I love this device – I want one and am gonna
buy one. It puts the fun back in recording. I know I can
get world-class results with the MixPre-10T – it’s easy to
take it anywhere, and I can tell that it will last a long time.
I want to give a quick shout out to the folks at K-Tek who
provided me with one of their Stingray bags, so I could
take the MixPre-10T out and about without fear of banging
it up. Also, thanks to product designer Paul Isaacs who
took the time for a really enjoyable chat on the phone to
discuss the philosophy behind the device, workflows, and
some soon-to-be-announced (and possible) future
features. Nice work, Sound Devices!
(MixPre-10M $1499, MixPre-10T $1799; sounddevices.com)
-Kerry Rose <kerry@edibleaudio.com>

Mytek
Brooklyn DAC+
I have to stop and reflect on the way we listen to music
today versus how I did growing up. It used to be a trip to the
now defunct Tower Records or whatever local record store was
in my town at the time. We browsed the racks looking for either
the latest release from our favorite band or the coolest looking
cover. Now the entire world of music is available at the click of
a button. The ritual of listening has evolved as well. From the
unwrapping of the plastic of the record, cassette, and eventually
CDs, to sitting and listening, flipping the record, rewinding the
best song over and over again… you get the idea. At the core
of it, access and the act of listening was not as easy. Not as
convenient. Now we listen more and more on our phones and
computers to everything from reasonably high-quality files to
absolutely “crap-res” files. Between the ones and zeros, and
your ears is a digital to analog converter. For those of us lucky
enough to have nice converters in our studios, we have the
pleasure of listening to high-res files through high-end
converters on nice monitors and/or headphones. It’s our job,
I first used the Brooklyn DAC+ for playback of CDs with my
Tascam CDRW-5000 CD player. My current set up does not suck
by any means, but I always enjoy plugging new things in and
taking them for a spin. My Rega Research amp is just an input
selector with volume and does not have a headphone jack –
so I appreciated being able to listen to discs with the “cans”
on as well as on speakers. For headphone duties I used my
Audeze LCD-3 headphones [Tape Op #119]. But man, who
listens to CDs anymore? I have a wall of them in my house
that I tell myself I use for reference purposes, but with almost
everything being available now via some streaming service or
another, it’s getting harder and harder to justify their claim to
all that physical space. So, when I am not listening to vinyl
with a cup of coffee and some time to read liner notes, I listen
to files off my computer or via Spotify.
You can do your wireless streaming as you see fit, and it is
convenient to forgo plugging your phone or computer into the
DAC. In both cases (direct and wireless) the Brooklyn DAC+
delivered a superior product to the ears. The whole experience
is simply more full spectrum. Better low end, and a noticeable
and menu tweaks, I was up and listening to sessions. I am
spoiled by the Crane Song Avocet II [#103] that I use for
monitoring duties, so the bar is extremely high for comparison
sake. The Brooklyn DAC+ is in the category of very high-end.
The sound of the unit in the studio environment is very good,
true to source and easy to listen to for long sessions. You can
use headphones with and without the mains on, and there is
plenty of headroom. I would report the same takeaways as I
did with home listening: clear and extended on both the top
and bottom of the spectrum with a transparent and focused
midrange. All the detail needed for making mix choices was
there, maybe leaning slightly towards the hi-fi. Paired with
the Focal Trio 6BEs [#114] in my studio, the Brooklyn DAC+
was appreciated. It does not have several functions that many
monitor controllers have (like multiple speaker selection, etc.)
but there is a system wide phase switch, and as a standalone
converter or for users that do not have need for extra
functionality, it is up there with the best of them in terms of
audio quality.
Can music be enjoyed with up sampling of over 300 kHz?

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and appreciatively smoother top end. Also, I have mentioned Of course it can. Will it be the difference between a hit and a
but let’s face it; as music fans, it’s a luxury. this in other reviews regarding high-end converters: listening flop? Of course it won’t. Vinyl aside, we are not going back in

Most of the planet has no idea what they’re missing and
perhaps they do not care. I do. I have shared before the story
of my kids hearing music through a good converter on nice
headphones. It was a new level of immersion and connection
with the music. Yeah sure, I still catch them listening on their
phones or the Alexa, but they get a hearty and deserved
fatigue sets in much later with good conversion. Your brain
does not have to work as hard to reassemble all those zeros
and ones into music, not to mention the zeros and ones that
are not there due to compression codecs on low-res files.
Because I could, I connected my Rega Research Planar 3
turntable to the Brooklyn DAC+ in order to utilize its analog
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any sort of meaningful way to old formats of mass distributed
music. Digital is here to stay, and high quality/resolution
digital files are becoming more available and accessible to the
mainstream listener. For those looking for an elevated
listening experience the Brooklyn DAC+ is a feature rich and
great sounding unit that should be considered. We have come

)
shaming for it. They can swear, eat all the dessert, and steal preamp section. It sounded as good or maybe even better a long way with the quality of codecs and file compression,
my seat on the couch, but God forbid they listen to a 128 than my Rega Research preamp, and with the added bonus of but for a guy who still really connects with and enjoys the

Kbps MP3 on an iPhone – it’s just not okay.
So, what do we do? There are still great solutions for
playback on your computer that may be an extra step but will
greatly improve your listening experience. The Mytek Brooklyn
DAC+ is one such device. This new version of the Brooklyn DAC
has a completely rebuilt analog section that includes an
updated Sabre Pro chipset, a cleaner, discrete analog
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being able to monitor vinyl records on headphones, I really ritual of putting a record on, the Brooklyn DAC+ is a welcome
enjoyed this listening session. On the analog side, the tool and winner.
Brooklyn provided a rich listening experience that was multi- ($2195 street; mytekdigital.com) -GS
and the Brooklyn DAC+ delivered.
Listening to music on my computer via USB and using
ADAM Audio’s T5 and T7 [#128] monitors as well as
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dimensional and full spectrum. I like being immersed in sound

attenuator circuit (with improved analog input performance
and phono stage transparency), and an upgraded headphone
amp that offers advanced detail and definition delivered
through a dual mono analog path.
headphones was also a real treat. Without the Brooklyn,
the music just sounded flat. There was less detail and a
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noticeable difference in the presentation of the low end.
With the Brooklyn there was new depth, with more of a
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Here are the nuts and bolts; the Brooklyn DAC + handles
conversion up to 384 kHz, 32-bit PCM, native DSD up to
DSD256, DXD, and 130 dB Dynamic Range. The unit also
includes a built-in hardware MQA Hi-Res Decoder. I was not
spatial quality to the music. Even listening to MP3s, files
from Spotify, and Apple AAC codec files, it seemed like I
was hearing the songs closer to the way they were meant
gm

to be heard. There is no better way to make this

familiar with this process and those that want to learn more
about it should check out <www.mqa.co.uk/customer/how-it-
works> for more info. The back panel sports several digital
input connections: a USB 2.0, an AES/EBU, two S/PDIF (or
DSD L/R), a TOSLINK/ADAT, and a BNC word clock. All digital
t)
assessment than to listen to something you’ve worked on
yourself. So that’s what I did. I found things I mixed on
Spotify and listened to them with and without the Brooklyn
DAC+ as compared to my high-quality WAVs of the same
songs. It is undeniable that with an apples to apples

inputs can be routed to a computer via USB2 or S/PDIF. The
unit allows for connection of external digital sources such as
CD players and digitizing ADCs. The clock is a Mytek
FemtoClock Generator with a rated 0.82 picosecond internal
(a
comparison on something I mixed and know well, the
Mytek was the organic apple with sugars converted by a
cold snap versus the same variety conventionally grown. If
you can taste the difference and want to spend more for a

jitter. With word clock input and output the Brooklyn DAC+
allows for stacking multiple units for multi-channel operation.
It has dual headphone jacks and a 6 watt/ 500 mA headphone
amp, that works well with even hard-to-drive headphones.
The volume knob is a 1 dB per step analog attenuator with a
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better tasting and healthier piece of fruit, the choice is
clear. Snobbery? Totally. If you are even considering a
high-end DAC, you are already tweaked enough to be there.
Trouble is, once you taste something like this, it’s hard to
go back. You’d be settling.

separate control for main out and headphones, and has a true But what about the studio? Yes, the Brooklyn DAC+ is a
relay bypass. Finally, the analog preamp section accepts line great studio control room monitor rig. Accessing the screens
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level or phono M/M, M/C input, (via unbalanced RCA jacks)
and is relay controlled. The unit comes with an Apple TV
remote that can be set up to work with the Brooklyn DAC+ and
can also be configured to work with any RC5 compatible
mp
for changing conversion/sample rates is easy once you get the
hang of it, and with all the available connections you should
have no issue integrating the Brooklyn DAC+ into your existing
rig. It’s always a bit of a pain to redo your monitoring (or any

remote. Firmware is upgradable via a USB control panel. piece of the studio backbone), but with a couple cable swaps
Gear Reviews/(Fin.)/Tape Op#131/71
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72/Tape Op#131/Put your ad on this page: https://www.tapeop.com/mediakit/

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Please Support Our Advertisers/Tape Op#131/73
 Think Like Tape
by Tony SanFilippo

A while back, Larry Crane – Tape Op’s editor – tweeted an

observation implying that many producers, engineers, and artists fill up
their productions with tons of tracks simply because the modern DAW
allows for such. He and I went back and forth a bit about having started
out recording on linear tape formats, and how that taught us how to
Track sheets for the initial Miles Davis’
pick and choose during the tracking phase what any music production
On the Corner studio sessions on June 1, 1972
really needs. and an overdub session on July 7, 1972.
I started my career in a room with two Alesis ADAT 8-track tape- Courtesy of Paul Tingen <miles-beyond.com>
based digital recorders (sync’d for 16 tracks, total) and a 24-channel
Mackie 8-bus console. Working in that format taught me about planning
ahead, as well as making sure the parts recorded were essential to the
production. We didn’t have any extra tracks to “record it and see if we
want it during the mix.” That just wasn’t a possibility. For instance, if
I wanted to comp vocals I needed to do that early in the project,
because each saved take required its own track. Plus I’d need an open

m
track to record the new vocal comp onto after making the decisions of
which parts of each take would be the final version. After I made this

co
comp, I had to listen several times to make sure that the artist and I
were happy, because those tracks I used for the multiple takes were
soon needed for other overdubs.
We eventually added a third ADAT for 24 audio tracks, and for me
that was like heaven. I could expand on ideas more freely at times, but

)
still needed to think in a finite way. We upgraded the console, and I
eventually bought my first 24-track analog machine. One of the

ot
techniques I would use in that 24-track situation was committing
multiple mics to one track. I like using two mics on guitar amps during
tracking, but I’d create my blend before the recorder by using the
mixing console’s bus groups. When tracking multiple songs I might
change that blend for each song, but I was always committing the
sound to one track of tape. When it came to drum recording, I would
not generally use a hi-hat mic; but if the drummer played the hats
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lightly, and I felt the need for a mic, I would blend it via the console’s
bus with the stereo overheads. I know many people who, to this day,
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only use two tracks for toms on drummers with multiple tom setups.
When I used an inside and outside kick drum mic, they always were sub-
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mixed to one track.

In the overdub phase, we needed to make
decisions and stick with them. Oftentimes a room mic
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on a guitar solo, backing vocals, or horn parts can sound really great.
I’d make that blend in the moment and commit to one track, because
we didn’t have the track space to put that room mic on its own track.
We’d have to decide if keyboard parts needed to be in stereo, and to
understand what that might mean down the road in the mix. If a song
t)
After all those years on 24-track formats (even my first digital system after
I opened Oxide Lounge Recording was a iZ Technology RADAR 24-track digital
machine), I still think like I’m working on tape. I still ask the question, “Do we
need this, or are we just goofing off?” This weekend I was recording a guitar
solo, and the iso booth and hall doors were open. The vocal mic was picking up

really needed some percussion, but tracks were disappearing fast in
overdubs, I would punch different sections and instruments on the
same track, or have several players for each of the different percussion
instruments all recorded together. If we wanted doubled parts, the
(a
the guitar from there, so I bussed it to the track I was using for the close guitar
mic. It now has a cool sound built in. I make many records that would fit onto
16- or 24-track formats, even though I’ve (finally) started using Pro Tools. As a
matter of fact, I decided to use Pro Tools Native, at a high resolution, and it

decision needed to be made whether to keep them on separate tracks maxes out at 48-tracks. In over five years on this system, I’ve maxed it out one
for panning, or (if there were open tracks) to play one, and then bounce time. I know of one well-known Nashville producer who even sets his Pro Tools
the recorded version with the next performance onto a new track, rig for destructive record – there is no “undo.” He also tries to convince bands
Decisions
giving us two parts on one physical track. that going over 24 tracks is a violation of the Musician’s Union, and if they want
needed to be made constantly. “Is this to add more tracks they must pay a fine. They need to consider if that extra part
e

part working? Is it enhancing the song and the production aesthetic?” or idea is really essential and necessary.
If something wasn’t, it was often erased for a part that was more So, my fellow recordists, I encourage you to “think like tape.” Only add
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essential. The record began to take shape in the recording process when
we had finite tracks. The producer, artist, and engineer all had a better
idea of the shape of the record at the end of each session.
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what your production needs. Don’t constantly throw everything possible into
the machine and hope to sort it out later. Now is the time to commit!
<www.oxidelounge.com>

74/Tape Op#131/End Rant/

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