Audio Times

Chris Tomlin’s Burning Lights Tour Hits the Road with Renewed Vision

editor — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 17:00:56 +0000

When Chris Tomlin’s latest album, Burning Lights, was released this past January, it debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, making it only the fourth Christian album in history to do so. To support the new album, Tomlin and his band are once again back out on the road for a two-month, 36-date U.S. arena tour, and along with them for the trek is Renewed Vision’s ProPresenter 5 lyric and media presentation software.

Rusty Anderson mans the video switcher and laptops running Renewed Vision’s ProPresenter software.
Photo Bjorn Amundsen

Although Tomlin’s production team has now been relying on ProPresenter for well over a decade, the expanded feature set of the software’s latest version is allowing the band and crew to find new ways to improve the concert-going experience for fans.

According to Matt Gilder, Tomlin’s musical director and keyboard player, one of those improvements has been the ability to trigger video clips for the tour’s 13′x40′ LED wall directly from his keyboard. Running Ableton Live on an Apple MacBook Pro, which also contains the show’s click and supplemental tracks, Gilder interfaces the laptop with his Roland A-500 PRO MIDI controller and to one of the tour’s video computers offstage running ProPresenter via Ethernet.

“For video playback on tours in the past, we’ve had to use SMPTE timecode and lock everything down to a click track with no getting off the map, “Gilder recalls. “But ProPresenter 5 enables us to set up a bunch of video cues in advance that I can easily trigger during performances simply by playing a predetermined chord.

“To illustrate, ‘God’s Great Dance Floor’ has typically been the lead song on our set list for this tour. At the beginning of the show, I bring up the initial bank of videos I’ll be accessing by hitting a MIDI note at a certain velocity. Partway into the song, when I play a C#5, the first use of that chord triggers the appropriate video to be displayed on the LED wall. Then, when I hit my second cue chord–say G5–it triggers the next video right on time. Not only does this make life easier for our crew running the video switcher and lyrics, but it also ensures that video content is perfectly in sync with the songs, even if we stretch out a verse or chorus somewhere along the way.”

Although many of the videos that Gilder triggers in ProPresenter are strictly visual, some are paired with an audio track in Ableton Live–in particular, a spoken-word piece from Lecrae during the bridge of “Awake My Soul.” “I was really nervous about that clip, which is basically a close-up view of Lecrae’s face,” says Gilder. “The timing has to be absolutely perfect because the band drops out for a moment right on his last word. But now that we’re more than halfway through the tour, I can honestly say that this new approach has been super-tight with zero latency. Before this, I always thought that if we weren’t using SMPTE or MIDI timecode to lock everything up that we were just asking for trouble. But here we are on the biggest Contemporary tour out there right now relying on ProPresenter every night and it’s working like a rock-solid champ. I’m extremely impressed.”

Rusty Anderson, video director for the Burning Lights tour, points out another unique way they’re able to utilize ProPresenter–to post Tweets from the audience during the intermission time between opener Kari Jobe’s performance and Tomlin’s.

“In the 15-minute gap between Kari’s and Chris’ sets, DJ Promote comes out to spin a few songs and asks the crowd to Tweet what songs they want to hear and generally comment on the show so far,” says Anderson. “So he’ll announce Chris’ and Kari’s Twitter handles, as well as his own, and these Tweets start feeding into the same machine that handles the show lyrics. Our ProPresenter operator sorts through the incoming Tweets and clicks on the ones we want to make active, at which point I start putting them up on the screens so people can see what they’ve just Tweeted. At the same time, we’re also moving cameras around and putting audience members up on the screens, which has really helped build excitement and anticipation until Chris and his band come out.

“One other thing that ProPresenter has allowed me to do is to customize the live video to match our pre-recorded content. I play various loops of graphic material–things like film noise, burns and color–in ProPresenter on my laptop, and I’ll often key that over the IMAG to best fit the particular mood of a song. For example, Lecrae’s video in the middle of ‘Awake My Soul’ features a lot of lens flares, so when we cut back to live video on all three screens again, I’ll overlay lens flares on the IMAG for visual continuity. And I can just as easily manipulate color, hue, saturation and a bunch of other parameters on the fly, all of which look beautiful up on the big screens. ProPresenter always keeps us looking great.”

Chris Tomlin’s Burning Lights tour, which kicked off in Charleston, West Virginia, wraps up with a final performance at Denver’s Red Rocks Amphitheatre on May 4. For more details on the tour, visit www.christomlin.com/burning-lights.

Headquartered in Alpharetta, Georgia, Renewed Vision is a leading manufacturer of cross-platform video production software for a myriad of professional environments, including live concerts, houses of worship, sporting events, conferences and even broadcast television. Founded in 2000 with the premise of “enhancing environments through technology,” Renewed Vision’s three core products–ProPresenter, ProVideoPlayer and ProVideoSync–are all widely celebrated for their stability, ease of use and affordability.

www.renewedvision.com

WILD NOTHING announce ‘Empty Estate’ EP out Monday 14th May on Bella Union

editor — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 19:57:46 +0000

Fresh out of the desert for their Coachella debut, WILD NOTHING return with Empty Estate, the follow-up EP to the critically acclaimed “Nocturne”, which received several year-end accolades including album of the year in Under The Radar and iTunes.

The 7-song EP was recorded in Brooklyn at Gary’s Electric by Al Carlson in January and finds Jack Tatum exploring new sounds, new instruments and a new voice for Wild Nothing. The EP features new paintings and illustrations from Eric Shaw. Follow the link below to watch the animated video for one of the EP’s many highlights ‘A Dancing Shell’…

A few words from Jack on the inspirations to make this EP and how it came about…

“This is a record that happened very fast for me. We had just gotten back from a particularly long European tour last November, our first supporting Nocturne, and I was feeling a lot of things. I found myself struggling with what it meant to be a musician, with what music in general meant to me and what part I could possibly play in it. Playing the same songs every night for months left me bored with myself. But when I got home, for the first time in awhile it suddenly seemed that the pressure was off. We didn’t have any tours planned for several months and I started to remember again why I love music in the first place. I listened to Brian Eno and David Bowie for weeks on end and felt like I was hearing them for the first time. I took a trip to Miami with my girlfriend. I visited my family. I felt free to try things musically that I would have stifled before. The songs on this EP were recorded over a 10 day period and are a reflection of this time. Of all the frustrations and successes and moments of peace in between. “

Empty Estate track-listing…

01. The Body In Rainfall

02. Ocean Repeating (Big-eyed Girl)

03. On Guyot

04. Ride

05. Data World

06. A Dancing Shell

07. Hachiko

Catch Wild Nothing performing at Field Day in London following their appearance at Primavera two days earlier…

Saturday 25 May – LONDON – Field Day

Prism Sound Announces New Mic To Monitor Tour

editor — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 16:48:48 +0000

Cambridge, UK: Prism Sound’s popular Mic to Monitor educational tour is back with new dates and new venues confirmed to 2013.

Targeted primarily at music production students, hobbyists and professionals, Mic to Monitor aims to dispel the many myths surrounding the recording process. Each seminar will feature presentations from recording professionals who will answer audience questions on recording techniques. There will also be the opportunity to demo equipment and win recording equipment from Prism Sound and SADiE – and from PMC and DPA Microphones, which are supporting the tour.

Mic to Monitor 2013 begins on April 23^rd at Pulse College, Windmill Lane Studios, Dublin. During May and June it will visit the University of the West of England (UWE), Bristol; Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge; SAE, Glasgow; Alchemea College, London; LIPA, Liverpool; Futureworks, Manchester and City University, Birmingham.

Acclaimed mastering engineer Aidan Foley (Foo Fighters, Van Morrison, U2) will speak at the first session in Dublin, where he will reveal the tricks and techniques he used on the hugely successful Dead Can Dance album, Anastasis – a European No.1 hit that achieved over 250,000 in sales last year. Aidan will discuss his approach to the Vinyl, CD and other digital releases during the project and the challenges he had to overcome in and out of the studio.

Other confirmed speakers include Simon Little (Jessie Jay, Quantic), Jake Gosling, (Ed Sheeran, Paloma Faith, One Direction) and Award-winning mastering engineer Many Parnell, whose recent projects include Bjork, Feist and Frightened Rabbit.

Graham Boswell

Graham Boswell, Prism Sound’s Sales Director, says: “As a company, Prism Sound is dedicated to providing training initiatives to the producers and engineers of tomorrow. Music recording students need the opportunity to learn skills that are applicable to the industries in which they will ultimately work. They also need to know about the equipment they will regularly come into contact with. These seminars are all taking place at educational establishments that offer courses in music recording and broadcast engineering because we recognise that this is where the producers and engineers of the future are currently getting their grounding. The aim is to give them – and any industry professional who wants to brush up on their skills – the chance to discuss new techniques, demo cutting-edge equipment and software and learn first-hand from the experiences of our guest speakers.”

Full details of dates, venues and guest speakers will be posted on the Prism Sound website. Anyone wishing to attend Mic to Monitor can do so by registering their interest online at http://www.prismsound.com/.

Is this the way I’m supposed to be?

Frank Perri — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 13:25:00 +0000

Frank Perri
Frank Perri is a keyboardist and arranger with a range of live performance, recording and arranging credits which reads like a who’s who of ‘been there and done it!’ If we mention that Frank has arranged for and led the Duke Ellington Orchestra, has guest conducted the Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra, is musical director of ‘Break The Floor Productions’, one of the world’s preeminent dance entertainment companies, AND has appeared in the US TV show “Pan Am” on ABC Television, you can see we’re not exaggerating.

Frank’s father still asks, “When is he giving up this music garbage and getting a real job?”

Well, here I am, back again after a short vacation. Well, maybe vacation is trying to put too positive a spin on it but it sounds nice since I haven’t had a vacation in years. The fact remains that I took some time off to find a way to re-invent myself. Well, re-invent myself as much as I possibly can and still stay in my chosen field. Of course it wasn’t by choice as for those of us who choose a career in the arts very little is ever by our choice, but it was needed none the less.

Like many, I do feel at times that my life or career too closely resembles sitting in traffic during rush hour. You sit dutifully in your lane, watching cars seemingly rush by in the lane next to you while your lane is nothing but an eternal line of brake lights. Finally you can’t take it anymore and see an upcoming gap in the speeding line of cars next to you and in a fury you turn on your blinker, hit the gas, and twist the wheel seemingly all at once. No sooner do you cut into that lane that the cars come to a dead stop and the lane you were just in starts moving effortlessly.

It’s the sort of thing that, depending on your disposition, makes you think either the universe has a huge sense of humor or the universe it out to get you. Personally I always chuckle at these things as I like to think that if there is a higher power, maybe they have a sense of humor and this is their way to tell me not to take things so gravely. A person much wiser than me once said, “You can’t take life so seriously. No one gets out alive”.

And so I find myself at this point where choices have to be made and decisions have to be believed in and adhered to. At this moment let me take a small sidestep to ask you, very seriously, “So, how are those New Year’s resolutions working out for you?” I know it sounds random but I’m asking because as I sit back to make decisions I realize that as always things happen at the best possible time when you let them.

Take a moment to consider where we are in the year, at the end of March and beginning of April. No matter your beliefs, or lack thereof, this time is celebrated by many. Easter crosses paths with Passover. More esoteric religions like Wicca would be celebrating “Ostara” about now. Pagans would be celebrating the vernal equinox. Zoroastrian, another ancient religion dating back to mid 5^th century BC and still practiced in modern day Iran would be celebrating “No Ruz”. If you don’t follow a religion, you’re probably just celebrating the fact that for us in the Northern hemisphere the days are getting longer and the weather is getting nicer. Studies have found references to celebrating this time of year as far back as 2400 BC in ancient Babylon. The fact remains that this is a point in the year that is celebrated by many for a very long time. You can’t help it – it’s almost in your DNA.

And so this ties in with asking you how your resolutions are going because from where I’m standing I can understand why so many have considered this time of year perfect for reflection and celebration. We’re only about a third of the way into the New Year. It’s been long enough to see if you’ve been following what you set for yourself and still early enough for you to change course if you haven’t. There’s plenty of time to adjust your direction or maybe better, change courses completely.

You’ve heard all the clichés and sayings; “Today is the first day of the rest of your life” or “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”. Great fodder for fortune cookies but most of us tune it out and gloss over it in real life, having heard these a million times until they just become a string of words that people say when they don’t know what other advice to give.

Yet the fact remains that word for word, they’re still valid. It’s kind of like how I used to tune out overplayed standards like “New York, New York” and “In the Mood” until one time when I was hired to do complete takedowns and re-arrangements of them for a big band and I was knee deep in them that I realized what great arrangements they actually were. Filled with tasty lines and motifs in the various instruments I saw that they weaved a colorful tapestry that I had missed out on previously because I learned to ignore them after hearing them for the 500^th time at someone’s grandmother’s birthday party.

So again, let’s take a look at our resolutions and even better, let’s revise or change them. When coming up with resolutions most people just sleepwalk through the usual suspects. So what was it this year? Less smoking? Less drinking? The ever popular diet and workout routine? So how’s it been working out for you? Have you dropped that ten pounds and quit smoking? Wait, you’re smoking two packs a day now instead of one?! Well, it’s no big tragedy because we’re going to revise things and look a bit deeper this time.

All too often we focus on the physical and not enough on the metaphysical. Sometimes the changes that benefit us most are the ones we have to spend a minute or so searching for rather than just plugging in the old standbys like a bad New Year’s version of mad libs. Besides, you can always quit smoking at any point during the year – they make a patch for that now. It’s kind of a cop-out to pick something as a resolution that you can fix with a trip to the drug store. That’s like saying that your resolution is to fix your upset stomach.

I started the New Year repeating the same tired, old resolutions. Here I am at the equinox and I realize I haven’t come close or even started what I wanted to achieve. Take heart! There’s still time to change things and redirect my life. So I decided to overhaul my resolution and instead, while it’s still early in the year and I can still make a difference to myself, I’ve decided to trust myself. Yup, that’s it. I’m going to trust myself.

I know it doesn’t sound as exciting or proactive as quitting smoking or losing weight but think about it; just like in music that quite often a good musician can make a difficult passage seem easy to play when it’s quite the opposite. How about I make a concentrated effort to trust myself and do it completely and without question. Now things are getting interesting but it doesn’t work if you don’t commit to it.

TELEFUNKEN Introduces New M82 Mic @ Muzikmesse

editor — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 09:48:37 +0000

TELEFUNKEN Elektroakustik of South Windsor, CT is introducing the new M82 dynamic cardioid microphone for the first time at Muzikmesse 2013. Following the same design approach as TELEFUNKEN’s other popular Dynamic Series microphones, the new M82 was created to provide a superior alternative to familiar kick drum large diaphragm dynamic microphones.

Hand-assembled and tested in the company facility in Connecticut, the M82 is a robust dynamic microphone that features a large 35mm diaphragm with superb low frequency capabilities. The M82 is an end-address microphone, meaning that the top portion of the headgrille is pointed at the sound source, and features two separate EQ switches: KICK EQ and HIGH BOOST. These two switches function independently of each other, providing four unique settings. The M82 makes it simple to tailor the microphone’s response to the source.

The M82′s KICK EQ switch engages a passive filter that reduces some of the lower mid-range frequencies (centered around 350Hz) commonly cut when processing a kick drum. This helps to keep the kick drum from sounding “boxy” and allows the low end to remain strong. This particular setting is tailored specifically for kick drum use.

The HIGH BOOST switch tilts the upper mid-range and high frequencies (starting around 2kHz with a 6dB boost by 10kHz). For kick drum use, this allows for more beater attack when placed inside a kick drum. This gives the option of either a vintage-style kick drum sound, or a more modern sound. For a source such as vocals or guitar amps, the high boost provides further articulation and airiness in the upper register.

Though it was designed with the kick drum as a primary application, the two EQ switches make the M82 equally suited for a multitude of sources such as vocals, percussion, broadcast voice, guitar and bass amplifiers, organ, and brass instruments.

On kick drum, the M82 is both fat and punchy. When placed just inside the hole of the resonant head, the M82′s tailored frequency response captures both the beater attack and shell resonance without the need for multiple microphones.

Construction wise, the M82 borrows heavily from the U47 body style by employing a headgrille of similar architecture. Finished in a durable smooth black finish on the headgrille and body, the M82 was rigorously tested to ensure it could handle the rugged role of a kick drum microphone for both studio and live environments.

The TELEFUNKEN Elektroakustik M82 is delivered with a stand mount adapter and protective zipper case. An optional elastic suspension mount is available.

MSRP: $399 USD

Hear the entire line of TELEFUNKEN mics at

Muzikmesse in Frankfurt, Germany : Booth #C60, Hall 5.1

To learn more about TELEFUNKEN Elektroakustik, visit: http://www.t-funk.com/

Rob Palladino interviews Matt Thomas of The Joy Formidable

Rob Palladino — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 09:33:55 +0000

Rob Palladino
Rob Palladino is a drummer, editor and writer. He’s been playing drums for 30-odd years, has been part of bands that no one has ever heard of but he is really proud of, has recorded, toured and has no intention of stopping anytime soon.

He is currently listening to Rush, Bruce Hornsby and Cardiacs , but not necessarily in that order or at the same time.

Rob has lived in many wonderful places. Most recently in Austin, TX, the self-styled “Live Music Capital of the World” and home to SXSW and the Austin City Limits Music Festival, and the much more relaxing and enjoyable “Austin Kite Fest.”

He is living in a small, pleasant, non descript town in Essex… at least for now

Interviews are strange creatures. They’re great to do (after all, you get to meet people most people would give their right nut/tit – delete as appropriate - to hang with), but there’s something strangely stilted and forced about them sometimes. I’ve done loads of them over the years and most times have come away thinking about how there wasn’t quite a connection between the subject and yours truly.

Now maybe that’s down to me. I’ve been a drummer for most of my 49 years on this planet, much longer than I’ve been a writer, so maybe I approach it all from that perspective rather than a writer’s perspective. But, that’s the way I am. I’ve interviewed quite a few of my heroes in music, and maybe one day I’ll tell you the super-embarrassing story of when I conducted a “phoner” with Geddy Lee from Rush. Or maybe not.

When I asked to interview Matt Thomas of the increasingly wonderful Welsh alternative power trio The Joy Formidable, I had the same doubts about myself. I wanted to talk to him about all the usual stuff; y’know “how did you start drumming?”, influences, equipment, the whole bit. But when the band’s wonderful PR person Harriet at Atlantic Records confirmed the interview “on” it just increased my own self consciousness.

So, after all this schvitzin I needn’t have worried. Matt is a great interviewee. Not only professional, but a total sweetheart. Thoroughly genuine, with a ready wit, a huge laugh and a willingness to give you whatever you need to get the job done (not to mention an excellent drummer). Because of my love of the band’s music and overall attitude, I may have come across as a bit of a “fan boy”, but whatever, I am a fan and didn’t really care.

Sometimes, like any good conversation, the subjects got mixed up and, if you read this, and it seems confusing, please accept my apologies. Matt is such an interesting character, and such a lively conversationalist, I couldn’t help but join in and sometimes “take the wheel” at some points. But, this is what you get when two drummers are in the same room talking “shop.”

Matt Thomas

AT – So, let’s begin with the obvious question. What got you started as a drummer?

MT – Well, I suppose I started drumming just because my dad started drumming. He was involved in a lot of church activities down in Essex, in a place called Hockley, where I grew up. Then I got interested in it and they bought me a kit at the age of about four years old I think, but I never really got serious until I was about 12 at school.

AT – Was that the little kit that’s pictured on your website?

MT – Yeah (laughs), the Solid Gold! And shortly after the photo was taken my sticks were up my nose (laughs). There’s video of me sitting there playing that kit with my dad on the keyboards playing along with each other.

AT – What sort of music do you remember listening to when you were a kid?

MT – Erm, by then I had a really varied music taste. There was a lot of indie and stuff going, like Radiohead had just released their “OK Computer” album and I was listening to that a lot and a lot of The Verve and stuff like that. I was just going through that stage. At school I started listening to “Nu-Metal”(laughs), random things like that!

Using the Pro Tools Workspace

Nick Lucas — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 11:37:33 +0000

Nick Lucas
Hi, I’m Nick and I’m a Pro Tools columnist at Audio Times. I started out producing music when I was 15, and now work under the pseudonym ‘Veranova’. Having released various records, produced for up and coming artists such as Lewis Mokler, and composed for companies such as Morphsuits; I took an interest in teaching. So I started Production Bytes, a source of video tutorials and products for music production; now my main business. Thanks to the success of this I also took an interest in writing and have settled into a columnist role with Audio Times. Which brings us to now. Enjoy!

When working on projects requiring heavy use of samples, we all need a way to find & trial samples before bringing them into our projects. On a Mac you can always fall back on Finder, but on a PC Windows Explorer doesn’t offer the same easy preview functions. In both cases however, Pro Tools’ ‘Workspace’ is here to make your workflow easier.

Workspace is a sample browser. Able to browse your hard drive for your sample libraries, and preview them inside Pro Tools. It’s quite a simple concept, and Workspace presents a lot of power to the knowing user.

To bring up Workspace, use ‘Window>Workspace’ or Alt+; (Opt+; on Mac)

Here is Workspace, I have marked in a few areas which I’ll be pointing out (in no particular order) throughout this article.

1 – Zoom presets

Just like in the Edit window, Workspace allows you to store up to 5 Zoom presets for the interface.

These will save the window size, section sizes, and enabled columns. This can come in useful for quickly displaying specific columns of information next to the audio files being displayed. To create a new preset, simply change what you want to see in the interface, and then CTRL+Click (CMD+Click on Mac) on your chosen preset to over-write it with the current layout.

From then on clicking the number will set the layout to what’s saved in the preset.

3 – Catalogs

Catalogs allow you to place folders from deep inside your file system, more easily within Workspace’s reach. Once you’ve created Catalogs they will appear under the ‘Catalogs’ menu in Workspace. To create a catalog. Navigate to the folder (in Workspace) you want to access, and right click on it. Click ‘Create catalog from selected’, name the new Catalog, and Workspace will now index all the files in the source folder ready to display quickly and easily, from the Catalogs folder.

4 – Drive Allocation

Workspace also gives you a degree of management control over all your storage devices. To the right of each storage device’s name, you’ll see two columns labelled ‘A’ and ‘V’. For ‘Audio’ and ‘Video’ respectively. By clicking each columns field you can setup how Pro Tools uses your storage devices. You will get 3 settings to choose from:

‘R’ – Record – will set up Pro Tools to be able to record (write) data to the device.

‘P’ – Playback – will set up Pro Tools to only be able to play (read) data from the device.

‘T’ – Transfer – will set up Pro Tools to not be able to read or write to the drive. This is set by default on Network drives, USB drives, and any other attached media which isn’t fast enough for Pro Tools to work on.

All of this is handy if you want to keep all your audio or video data on specific devices, stop Pro Tools from running into performance issues on slow devices; by forcing you to pull data off them first, or prevent Pro Tools from inadvertently storing data on your system drive.

Searching for Audio

So you’re on the search for ‘that sample’ you need. Having set up your workspace and indexed all your sample folders as catalogs you’re ready to find it. Click the search button in the top left of Workspace. This brings up a search row to enter your terms, and adds check boxes to the left of all your storage devices, folders, and catalogs. It will speed up the process of searching a lot to have a general idea of where you’ll find a certain sample, and organising your Catalogs in such a way will help you out. Tick which folders/catalogs you want to search, and then enter your search term at the top of the Name column. You’ll also see along this row, that you can whittle down your results further by specifying variables for other columns such as file ‘Kind’, Size, and Duration, with your search terms. Hit enter, and your results will now display in the bottom panes of Workspace.

2 – Auditioning and Importing Audio

Once you’ve found the audio you want then importing it is as easy as dragging and dropping onto the right kind of audio track. If your audio tracks are mono then multi-channel audio will be split up across them, as is usual Pro Tools behaviour. There are ways to trial your audio before importing it however. Selecting a file and pressing ‘Space’ will audition it, and show the waveform in the waveform column. You can also skip around the file by clicking where you want to hear on the waveform display. Something to note at this point is you need to set in your I/O Settings which channel Workspace plays through. As it doesn’t go through the project’s routing. Go to ‘Setup>I/O Setup’, and select your output channel under ‘Audition Paths’ in the lower right of the setup window.

At the top of Workspace, you also have a number of audition options.

First is simply a play button, and the second control is Workspace’s volume.

Next is a volume meter, and finally Elastic Audio options.

Workspace is able to automatically time-stretch audio files to your project tempo, and the elastic audio options are there for this. The first button switches this functionality on, and the second allows you to change the timestretching algorithm to the most appropriate for your source material. This will allow you to audition files in time with your project. The only requirement is that the selected audio file has embedded Tempo information.

Right Clicked on Something?

The right context menu, is a constant across Workspace. There are plenty of self-explanatory and advanced functions. However the final 4 are quite useful to know:

Loop Preview, will make the audio files loop round until you stop the audition.

Auto-Preview, will make audition audio files as you select them.

Space Toggles File Preview, activated the space bar as a play button. With this switched off, spacebar will play the project as if you were in the Mix/Edit windows.

Audio Files Conform To Session Tempo, is another way to switch on and off, elastic audio when auditioning.

Nick Lucas
April 2013

Arturia advances history-making Minimoog™ to iPad

editor — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 16:45:03 +0000

Music software and hardware company Arturia is proud to announce availability of iMini, an authentic recreation of the all-time classic Minimoog™ monosynth for Apple’s all-conquering iPad,

iMini is based on the TAE® (True Analog Emulation) synthesis technology found in Arturia’s award-winning Mini V soft synth, meticulously modelling the distinctive tones and analogue nuances of the legendary Seventies-vintage Minimoog™ Model D monosynth. Moog changed the musical world with the Minimoog™ and Arturia helped change the music software world with the Mini V.

Arturia now brings the still-sought-after classic Minimoog™ sound to the musical masses, transforming any iPad mini, iPad 2, or iPad with Retina display into the ultimate analogue synth emulation! Those timeless three oscillators and that 24dB per octave fabled filter are all present and accounted for in iMini. It also successfully sports the look and feel of Dr Bob Moog’s namesake iconic synthesizer for all to see (and hear). But being a game-changing iPad app for 2013 and not an analogue synth design dating back to 1970 means there’s a whole lot more to iMini than first meets the eye…

Any serious synthesizer connoisseur will instantly recognise the MAIN mode screen as an eye-catching rendering of the Minimoog™ Model D front panel, albeit with welcome additional ‘analogue’ CHORUS AMT. and DELAY AMT. level controls, as well as a POLY switch for playing polyphonically — impossible in 1970, obviously! Other subtle supplements include a gearwheel icon above the keyboard — press to reveal

GLIDE, DECAY, LEGATO, and SCROLL switches for performance keyboard control, plus a SCALE function to choose from no fewer than 26 different scales and modes. Meanwhile, iMini comes complete with hundreds of superb sounds showcasing its supreme sonic versatility; press LOAD from the menu bar and choose from sound designer or category — couldn’t be simpler!

But ‘behind’ that familiar-looking MAIN screen lies a wealth of truly 21st Century audio action: the PERFORMANCE page accesses an arpeggiator with two latch modes and two assignable XY pads for creating all kinds of patterns and real-time morphing sounds; the FX page provides iMini with the same wide-ranging CHORUS and accurate ANALOG DELAY models found in the above-mentioned Mini V software — subtle sound thickening to wildly modulated effects (chorus) and sync to external tempo (stereo delay) possibilities abound here! Handily, all onscreen knobs and switches in each iMini page can easily be assigned to MIDI CC allowing automation from any external MIDI source. The default MIDI map will automatically work with Arturia MiniLab or Analog Player 25 Universal MIDI Controller keyboards!

And that’s not all: the CONNECT page is the gateway to making iMini talk to the outside world (using the Apple iPad Camera Connection Kit) — use WIST (Wireless Sync Start Technology) to sync the arpeggiator and delay to other iPad or iPhone apps, and integrate iMini into a complete studio environment via Retronyms Tabletop™. This free iPad app allows multiple iMini instances to be simultaneously run; real-time performance recording into a sequencer; parameter automation; processing of third-party, Tabletop™-ready apps through the iMini filter, and more. “iMini is an ideal Tabletop™-ready app,” says Retronyms Co-Founder John-Paul Walton. “It’s a fresh take on a legendary synth, and comes packed with a ton of amazing presets — everything from retro space sounds to contemporary bass noise.”

Thanks to iMini, today there’s really no excuse for not taking that history-making Minimoog™ sound anywhere anytime. And in recognition of the groundbreaking instrument to which it owes its very existence, for every iMini sold, Arturia will make a donation to The Bob Moog Foundation, whose Executive Director, Michelle Moog-Koussa, kindly adds: “We are grateful to Arturia and Retronyms for donating part of the proceeds from the iMini in support of our mission to ignite creativity at the intersection of music, science, history, and innovation. A portion of this funding will go to support our educational initiative, Dr Bob’s SoundSchool, which teaches children the science of sound through the magic of music.”

For Frédéric Brun, Arturia’s President, the feeling is mutual: “We are delighted to donate to The Bob Moog Foundation and acknowledge our gratitude to Robert Moog, who helped us when we released our first virtual instrument, the Modular Moog V, back in 2003. We are also thrilled to work with Retronyms, who are a great company and a force to be reckoned with when it comes to iOS. The iMini sets a new standard for what a virtual instrument should sound like on an iPad.”

Watch Arturia Director of Sound Design Mike Hosker’s iMini tutorial video below

www.arturia.com

DPA Microphones feature the d:facto™ II Vocal Mic at NAB 2013

editor — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 16:44:15 +0000

DPA Microphones will introduce the d:facto™ II Vocal Microphoneat NAB 2013 (Booth C3036). With a true studio sound that’s perfect for live music broadcasting, this latest addition to the d:facto line offers an extraordinarily natural sound with high separation and extreme SPL handling, giving users unlimited possibilities for their performances. In addition to use with the new DPA wired handle, the d:facto II provides the added benefit of a state-of-the-art adapter system, which allows for seamless integration with many professional wireless systems.

“We are extremely proud to have developed an ingenious adapter range that brings the true DPA sound out of a wireless system,” says Christian Poulsen, CEO of DPA Microphones. “The wireless systems currently available deliver very limited power to drive our high-end condenser capsules, so getting the sound quality we wanted was nearly impossible. We had to be creative and put a huge amount of work and thought into the electronic circuit of the adapter solution. We wanted to be completely true to the input of the vocalist, and with d:facto II we have reached this goal.”

The new d:facto II guarantees users the exceptional DPA sound with popular existing wireless systems such as Sony, Lectrosonics, Shure, Wisycom and Sennheiser. The d:facto II provides improved audio performance as it is superbly linear in frequency and phase, both on- and off-axis, while its impressive definition and accuracy reproduces a singer’s voice effortlessly.

“The launch of the d:facto II Vocal Microphone is a major step for DPA as it means that we now have a microphone for every acoustic miking situation, whether you are amplifying or recording,” continues Poulsen. “Our highly regarded Reference Standard Microphones have long delivered superb audio quality to musicians who want to use a microphone on a stand. For mobile solutions, we offer our innovative d:vote™ 4099 Instrument Microphones and our range of Miniature Microphones, which are ideal for those who prefer to have their microphone mounted on their instrument. Another solution are our lightweight, easy to wear d:fine™ Headset Microphones, which are seen increasingly more often at concerts with vigorous performances.”

Equally at home in sound reinforcement and recording applications, the d:facto II’s simple plug-and-play features allow it to reproduce an extraordinary natural sound, which reaches the extreme sound level handling of 160 dB. As with all DPA mics, the d:facto II provides superior gain before feedback and a robust three-stage pop protection grid built into the microphone to remove unwanted noise. It also boasts exceptional isolation from handling noise as well as the ability to accommodate extreme sound levels.

www.dpamicrophones.com

DiGiCo gets intimate with Gary Barlow

editor — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 16:43:40 +0000

Steve Lutley

Gary Barlow’s recent solo tour was of a more intimate nature than those he undertakes with his fellow band members, but the quality of the audio is no less important than it is for Take That’s stadium shows. The requisite equipment inventory boasts DiGiCo consoles, supplied by audio rental company Delta Sound, at both Front of House and monitor positions, a combination that is as sure to please as Gary himself.

Front of House engineer Gary Bradshaw, who also engineers for Take That, opted for a DiGiCo SD8 to take into account the restrictions on space presented by the tour’s choice of venues.

“The gigs were very varied in their size,” Bradshaw explains. “The biggest being the Brighton Centre, going down to a tiny seaside theatre in Scarborough where there’s not much space at all. So I went for a nice, compact package, for which the SD8 fits the bill perfectly. I only have a couple of outboard effects in addition to the console and I utilise a MADI playback system, which means we can be sound checked before the band even arrives.”

At the monitor position, Steve Lutley, also a Take That veteran, has opted to use DiGiCo’s flagship SD7.

“I’ve been working with Gary since his first solo tour,” he recalls. “I use the SD7 because, in my opinion, it’s the best monitor console currently available. It’s extremely versatile and it gives me complete redundancy, so I know I have a failsafe system.

“I need a console this big because, although the venues are smaller, the size of the band is actually slightly larger than on Take That’s Progress tour. I’ve got 14 stereo mixes for the Sennheiser IEMs, plus two wedge mixes, one for support and one for the guitarist who prefers not to use in-ears.”

Lutley knows that the audio quality of the SD7 is vital. “When we do all the promo dates, we sometimes have to use a different brand of consoles and Gary notices the change immediately. The SD7 is also the only console where I can get away with using the onboard reverbs. On anything else, he will notice.”

As the tour drew to a close, the consensus of both engineers is that it was a success both commercially and in terms of its audio.

“Gary spends a lot of his working life in a studio, writing songs and listening to his vocal,” Lutley concludes. “He knows what he’s meant to sound like. He is very critical of sound, and for us, that can only be a good thing.”

www.digico.org