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SOUND ON SOUND THE WORLD’S BEST RECORDING TECHNOLOGY MAGAZINE

THE WORLD’S BEST RECORDING TECHNOLOGY MAGAZINE

1985 — 2024 TM

MUSIC PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES / INDEPENDENT IN-DEPTH PRODUCT TESTS / ENGINEER & PRODUCER INTERVIEWS / LIVE SOUND

MOOG MUSE E X C L U S I V E

SEPTEMBER 2024

The inspirational polysynth

www.soundonsound.com

Zoom H4e Reinventing the field recorder

VOLUME 39 • ISSUE 11

How sampled instruments work

Ken Scott & Emre Ramazanoglu

ELECTRO-VOICE

Session discipline

WO R T H £ 1 0 5 5

Ziggy Stardust then and now

Lessons from tape for a digital world

EVERSE 12 PA www.soundonsound.com

ON TEST: ICON / MCDSP / KORG / DIRTYWAVE / SOUNDTHEORY / SPL / TEKNOSIGN / BEEZNEES / TOFT / VSL / WALDORF

TECHNIQUE: COMPOSING FOR COMMERCIALS / LOGIC’S SESSION PLAYERS

September 2024 £6.99

52 THE TAPE MINDSET

IN THIS ISSUE

www.soundonsound.com

September 2024 / issue 11 / volume 39

FEATURES 32 The World Of

Commercial Composition

WIN

ELECTRO-VOICE

EVERSE 12

Composing for adverts and music libraries can be rewarding, challenging and creative — and did we mention that you get paid?

42 How I Got That Sound David Lord explains how he combined a Mellotron with a Radio Shack amp and a metal bin on XTC’s ‘All You Pretty Girls’.

WORTH £1050

52 The Tape Mindset: An Analogue

Approach To Our Digital World

Working with tape imposed a discipline on recording sessions that was hugely beneficial — and which our DAWs have made optional.

PAGE 86

62 Ziggy Stardust In Atmos Ken Scott and Emre Ramazanoglu explain how they reinvented David Bowie’s classic album in three dimensions.

104 Inside Track: Julian Bunetta

80 How Virtual Instruments Work

Taking the decision to follow his instincts has elevated Julian Bunetta to the top rank of songwriters and producers.

We cut through the jargon to explain how software instruments achieve their incredible realism.

120 Spotlight: Kick Drum Microphones

88 Talkback: Ramera Abraham

We’re spoilt for choice when it comes to dedicated kick drum mics. We check out some of the best.

Producer and engineer Ramera Abraham on dissecting Beyoncé and why she’d love to sit in on an Ariana Grande session.

144 Q&A

92 Modular

Your studio and recording questions answered.

Cycle Instruments’ Josh Wilkinson talks about modules and reinventing the sequencer.

146 Why I Love... Minimal Synth Setups Dave Gale explains why he craves the simple life.

116 ORCHESTRAL TOOLS BENJAMIN WALLFISCH STRINGS

ON TEST 10

74 70

AIXDSP DrumEQ

125

BeesNeez Tribute 1 Cycle Instruments Tetrachords Eurorack Module

Dirtywave M8 Model:02 Portable Hardware Tracker

127

Drawmer 1972

Sample Library

108

128

Sample Library

McDSP APB Tape Moog Muse

Superior Drummer 3 Expansion

126

Channel Strip Plug-in

Sampleson Drumbada Sample Library

Sonic Charge Synplant 2 Software Synthesizer

129

Soniccouture Pan Drums II Sample Library

Soundtheory Kraftur Multiband Saturation Plug-in

SPL Phonitor 3 Headphone Amplifier

VSL MIR Pro 3D

& Vienna Power House Immersive Audio Reverb Suite

Waldorf Iridium Core Synthesizer

Zoom H4 essential Portable Recorder

Sample Library

128

Universal Audio LA-6176

Orchestral Tools

& Cali76 Bass

Toontrack

The Jazz Sessions SDX

Malcolm Toft Equate

124 Origin Effects Cali76 FET

Impact Soundworks Rosette Mandolin

Audio Processors

Sample Libraries

IK Multimedia Tonex One Amp Emulation Pedal

Make Believe Studios MixHead

Benjamin Wallfisch Strings

Icon Pro Audio/Harrison 32Ci USB Audio Interface

126

116

Teknosign Box Line Double Width

Polyphonic Synthesizer

Grace Design Rex & Roxi Microphone Preamps

Glasgow Synth Guild Oct Tone Eurorack Module

Eight-channel Equaliser

Emergence Audio Infinite Upright

Time-alignment Plug-in

Tape Emulation Plug-in For APB

Dual-channel Microphone Preamplifier

129

16 8

C OV E R

110

Lauten LS-408 & LS-508

Synchro Arts VocAlign Pro 6

Drum Microphones

Tape Emulation Plug-in

Valve Microphone

Drum, Percussion & Sampler Pad

Equaliser & Dynamics Plug-in

Korg MPS-10

Zynaptic Morph3 Pro Audio Morphing Plug-in

WORKSHOPS 130 134 138 140 142

Digital Performer Logic Pro Tools Cubase Studio One

ON TE ST

McDSP APB Tape

McDSP’s analogue plug-in platform can now replicate the complex dynamic behaviour of tape. SAM INGLIS

cDSP’s Analog Processing Box is perhaps the ultimate hybrid device. It processes audio in the analogue domain, but its processing is presented within your DAW in exactly the same way as conventional digital plug-ins are. The upshot is that you get true analogue processing with full recall, automation and the other ergonomic pluses of software. Most of the APB’s capabilities centre on dynamics processing, and the initial suite of plug-ins included several compressors and limiters. Since launch McDSP have added such treats as a valve-style mixer, a multiband compressor, a mastering EQ and a dedicated saturation processor, all of which are free to APB owners. The latest addition to the range is a tape emulator. APB Tape has a straightforward but comprehensive parameter set. The amount of saturation or dynamic processing is adjusted using input and output gain controls, plus a dial labelled Comp, which seems to act as a ratio setting. You can switch between two emulated tape formulations, and there are controls for mimicking the low-frequency ‘head bump’ and associated sub-bass roll-off that are characteristic of tape machines. When used in stereo, you also have the option of operating APB Tape in L‑R or M‑S modes, and there are two well

thought‑out control linking schema that help to make setting these up easier. There’s also a nice seleciton of presets categorised by instrument or application.

Talking Tape Some of the sonic artefacts of tape recording were undesirable, such as wow and flutter, high-end loss and hiss, but others are remembered more fondly. Most of these relate to the complex dynamic changes introduced by saturating the medium, and there have been many previous attempts to replicate these in the analogue domain as well as in digital plug-ins. However, if the tape emulation plug-ins in my folder are anything to go by, no-one can quite agree what the good qualities of tape actually were!

Tape Emulation Plug-in For APB

there’s a noticeable bite to the sound, but you have to really cane it before obvious compression occurs. The 456 formulation, by contrast, is a lot more spongy and soft. Either way, if you get the gain-reduction needle moving, the dynamic effect is very cool. It’s a little reminiscent of parallel compression, and is capable of bringing real excitement to drum-led mixes. Slate Digital’s VTM will do something of the sort when pushed, but APB Tape goes much further. I doubt you’d want to use the most extreme settings across an entire mix, but for something like a drum room mic or DI’ed funk guitar, they could be just the ticket. As you’d expect, the various elements of the processing are interactive, so whereas the ‘head bump’ sounds like a straightforward EQ curve at low gain levels, it responds to the dynamic changes at higher gain levels in quite a complex and interesting way. I suspect that the sound of tape is a moving target, and I wouldn’t like to say whether APB Tape gets closer to it than other plug-ins. But it certainly stands out from the crowd, with an ability to inject energy into a mix and make everything ‘bounce’ that I haven’t heard in any purely digital tape emulation — or indeed in conventional compressor plug-ins. APB Tape further demonstrates the versatility and sonic potential of McDSP’s unique processing platform.

“If the tape emulation plug-ins in my folder are anything to go by, no-one can quite agree what the good qualities of tape actually were!”

September 2024 / www.soundonsound.com

APB Tape adds another colour to the palette. It doesn’t introduce noise, pitch instability or other unwanted side-effects of tape recording, and unless pushed hard, it doesn’t drastically alter the timbre of the source. With the input gain backed off, in fact, it rivals Softube’s Tape in the “is it actually on?” levels of subtlety. As you raise the input level, though, you’ll encounter a wide range of variations on the ‘mix glue’ theme; and the hotter things get, the more the differences between the two emulated tape formulations become apparent. GP9 is, for want of a better word, quite ‘stiff’. As you pile on the signal, the upper midrange fills out nicely and

summary McDSP’s analogue tape emulation plug-in produces exciting and distinctive dynamic effects.

£ Free to APB owners. W www.sxpro.co.uk W www.mcdsp.com

FO C A L

S H A P E

T WI N

Shape Twin is the largest and most versatile member of Focal’s Shape series. Featuring dual passive radiators, twin flax woofers and Focal’s latest ‘M’ shape aluminium/magnesium inverted dome tweeter, Shape Twin is designed to perform in a wide range of monitoring environments.

Beyond the curve!

Distributed in the UK by SCV Distribution www.scvdistribution.co.uk

ON TE ST

Synchro Arts VocAlign Pro 6 Time-alignment Plug-in Along with various other improvements, version 6 of this labour-saving plug-in brings ARA2 support to Pro Tools users. LUKE WOOD

riginally conceived for the AV post-production world, VocAlign soon became popular in music production because its ability to automatically align vocal and instrument takes could save hours of manual editing. In recent years, it’s been given more music-friendly features, derived from Synchro Arts’ flagship software Revoice Pro, including the ability to match the tuning of tracks as well as their timing. Sam Inglis’ review of the last major version (SOS February 2021: sosm.ag/synchro-arts-vocalign-ultra) details VocAlign’s core functionality, and rather than repeat that I’ll focus here on the new features. With the release of version 6, VocAlign Project and Ultra are now known as Standard and Pro, respectively, but the key differences between them remain. The former, the entry-level version, is capable of automatically applying time‑alignment across multiple audio tracks. The latter also offers pitch-matching, along with formant-shifting and transposition effects.

September 2024 / www.soundonsound.com

Both sport a newly designed ‘dark theme’ user interface, and the ARA2 version of the plug-in is now compatible with the latest version of Avid Pro Tools (2024.6). They’ve also both gained undo and redo buttons, and a convenient Arm Capture All function that makes it possible to capture all a session’s tracks with a single click. New features exclusive to Pro include Process Groups, that allow you to quickly apply identical settings to groups of tracks; SmartPitch, a tool that defines how the plug-in handles unison and non-unison parts; and some improvements to the accuracy of the Sync Points.

Sync’ing Feeling Shortly after VocAlign 6 was announced, an artist with whom I work regularly informed me they were recording a song that featured a piano and lead vocal, accompanied by a 21-track backing vocal ensemble. The

ensemble included a selection of doubles of the main vocal, octave-down parts, harmonies and an array of choral ‘ohhs’ and ‘ahhs’, so it was a perfect candidate to test out the plug-in’s new capabilities. And, as a Pro Tools user, I was particularly keen to check out the new ARA2 compatibility, so installed the latest Pro Tools update, loaded the multitracks, and then set about seeing what VocAlign 6 had to offer. An ARA2 instance of VocAlign can be added to individual clips (using their right-click menu or Pro Tools’ Clip menu) or to an entire track (via the Elastic Audio/ARA menu, the File / Track menu, or the track’s right-click menu). Once loaded, VocAlign appears docked in Pro Tools’ Edit window. It can be opened and closed using a VocAlign 6 tab at the bottom of the screen, and it’s possible to undock it so that it can be freely moved and resized. The general layout remains as in the previous version, with three lanes displaying the Guide, Dub and Output tracks, and the plug-in’s Match Timing, Match Pitch and Other control panels housed to the right. There are three new icons that allow these panels to be shown or hidden, which reduces visual clutter and saves screen

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ON TE ST

BeesNeez Tribute 1 Valve Microphone available today. BeesNeez say that they have managed to track down a source of this material to use it in their M7 recreation. They have also designed and built a faithful replica of the original mic’s BV-08 transformer. Unsurprisingly, though, they haven’t managed to recreate its unique VF14 valve, so like many high-end U47 recreations, the Tribute 1 uses an EF12 as standard; BeesNeez can fit or supply an alternative option if required.

In Use

The Neumann U47 is legendary for a reason — as this homage makes clear. NEIL ROGERS

ince starting production of their own mics back in 2002, Australian pro audio company BeesNeez have built up an impressive catalogue. I reviewed the Lulu Tube from their budget-friendly Studio range (www.soundonsound. com/reviews/beesneez-lulu-tube) last month, and was impressed to find a high-quality valve SDC mic that would be affordable to a small studio owner like myself. For review this month we have another valve mic, but this time from their professionally priced Tribute range. The Tribute 1 is BeesNeez’s take on the classic Neumann U47. There are already plenty of other options out there for engineers seeking a U47-inspired mic, so BeesNeez are keen to highlight the lengths they’ve gone to to reproduce key aspects of the original design and assembly, with the all-important capsule being a great example. The M7 capsule used in early U47 and M49 microphones was, apparently, made from gun-barrel material, which is not readily

September 2024 / www.soundonsound.com

The powder-coated, matte grey finish to the Tribute 1 is very tasteful, and I like how minimal the mic itself looks — and how it doesn’t try to pass as a direct clone of its inspiration. Pattern switching is more versatile than on the original, running from omni to figure‑8 in nine steps through a switch on the power supply. The build quality seems immaculate, and getting the mic up and running with the swivel‑mount connector and cable felt effortless. I’ve crossed paths with a few different U47-type mics in recent years, and when I come across a really good one, I’m always reminded how tricky it can be to describe the sonic magic they impart without reverting to pro audio cliché. Sometimes there’s no alternative, however! On my first vocal session using the Tribute 1, I was impressed with how the upper midrange of a female vocalist, who I have recorded with for a few years, suddenly sounded more

‘present’ and ‘like a proper record’. And that’s U47s in a nutshell: there’s a reason these mics are so revered. They don’t suit every singer, but when they work, they can frame a voice in a way that is very familiar to our ears and helps it sit beautifully against the instrumentation. The Tribute 1 sounded superb in the all vocal sessions where I used it, whether capturing silky vocal tones or with the singer leaning into the capsule for more authoritative, low-end‑heavy results. I also had great success using the mic on instruments, and when used above a drum kit or acoustic guitar in its omni pattern, it produced a lovely ‘open’ sound whilst adding a sense of depth — especially when in a good-sounding recording space.

Final Thoughts I had high expectations for this mic, and they were comfortably met in all the sessions when I used it in my studio. As well as ticking the boxes I would want from an all-round large‑diaphragm studio mic, I loved how this mic gently pushes forward the ‘presence’ frequencies of most voices I tried it on. This is not a cheap mic by any means, but the exchange rate in the UK at the time of writing pitches the Tribute 1 pretty squarely price-wise against at least two of the better‑known U47-inspired mics currently available. With this in mind, If you’re in the market for a mic in this style, you should definitely put the Tribute 1 on your shortlist for auditioning.

summary A boutique, handmade reimagining of one of the most famous mics of all time, the Tribute 1 is both a faithful recreation and a beautiful mic in its own right.

£ £4165 including VAT. T Funky Junk +44 (0)207 281 4478 E sales@funky-junk.com W www.funky-junk.com W www.beesneezproaudio.com

Atmos just got

Immersive Audio Interface & Monitor Controller Meet ORIA, the world’s first audio interface and monitor controller designed specifically with immersive audio in mind. Built for creating immersive audio mixes for formats such as Dolby Atmos, ORIA lets you calibrate, control and monitor multi-channel speaker arrays from stereo up to 9.1.6 and everything in between. Perfect for music, film, TV, game and VR production.

Officially Certified

ON TE ST

Waldorf Iridium Core Synthesizer

Waldorf’s all-encompassing Iridium engine is now available in its smallest form yet. RORY DOW

s you may already know, the Iridium is not just any digital synthesizer. It’s Waldorf’s flagship. With a sprawling synthesis engine embracing virtual analogue, wavetable, frequency modulation, phase modulation, granular, multisampling and physical modelling, the Iridium is a true all-rounder. While being everything to everyone may seem impossible, the Iridium’s sheer scope is undeniably impressive. The Core is the latest option in an expanding line-up and the smallest Iridium thus far. It measures 346 x 200 x 64mm and weighs 2.2kg, so it will fit comfortably on your desktop. It retains all of the features of its bigger siblings but with a reduced voice count of 12

September 2024 / www.soundonsound.com

(16 in the bigger models), a few changes to the inputs and outputs on the back, no keyboard, and fewer dedicated encoders.

Atomic Number 77 Like the previous models, the Iridium Core revolves around a large 1024x600‑pixel colour touchscreen. Most dedicated controls for synthesis parameters found on the larger keyboard and desktop models have been sacrificed for a smaller form factor, but you still get the top row of Section buttons for navigating, Macro buttons that can be freely assigned, the six contextual endless stepped encoders, eight rubberised pads for triggering notes and chords, and a selection of other encoders and buttons for quick access and navigation. One addition that helps with the reduction in dedicated controls is the four assignable Control knobs located underneath the screen. By default, they adjust filter cutoff, resonance, effects send and patch volume, but they can also be customised per patch,

giving you control over the most important parameters for any given preset. Iridium’s synthesis capabilities remain identical to those of its older siblings. Patches between all the Iridium models can be shared and loaded on any other model, which is easy thanks to the microSD card slot. The Iridium Core has 2.6GB flash storage for samples, pre‑loaded with a 2GB library of factory samples. There are over 1700 patches, with space to save several thousand more. The synth engine uses two layers, which can be stacked, key-split and panned and assigned a custom number of voices per layer. Each layer uses a voice per note, so if you stack two polyphonic layers, you get a maximum of six voices. Layers can also be played bi-timbrally from different MIDI channels. Each layer is essentially a full synth patch, with three oscillators, three filters, six envelopes, six LFOs, a Komplex modulator and up to five effects. Layers are always saved together as a ‘Multi’ but can be loaded individually. The power of the Iridium lies in its many and varied synthesis methods. These include classic wavetable synthesis that Waldorf are well known for, virtual analogue including eight-voice unison, multisample and granular (combined into what they call ‘Particle’ oscillators),

physical modelling, a speech synthesizer and even a highly customisable modular environment called Kernels, which allows you to combine amplitude modulation, frequency modulation, phase modulation, ring modulation and phase distortion in many different ways. For filters, each layer has up to three multi-mode filters with different models that cover the full gamut of clean to filthy and can be routed in different ways. The filters are digital (unlike the analogue filters on the original Waldorf Quantum) and operate in stereo, which is great given that many of the oscillator types are stereo. All this synthesis power is backed up by oodles of modulation: six LFOs (per layer), six envelopes with adjustable curves, and the aforementioned Komplex modulator, which combines two multi-stage waveforms to create a complex, looping, synchronised modulation source. Each layer has a 40-slot modulation matrix to help you make the most of all these sources. In terms of effects, there are phaser, chorus, flanger, delay, reverb, EQ, overdrive and compressor. You can choose up to five per layer, and most parameters can be modulated. In addition, there is a global one-knob compressor and a bass boost option. A 32-step sequencer and arpeggiator help keep things moving with advanced features like scale quantisation, rhythm patterns, swing and even MIDI output. The touch screen can be used as an X/Y pad modulation source too. In terms of MIDI, the Iridium engine supports poly aftertouch and MPE for whatever form of polyphonic expression you prefer. The Iridium Core has even kept its bigger siblings’ CV capabilities, albeit in a slightly reduced

Waldorf Iridium Core £1349 pros • It is the most affordable version of the Iridium yet with very few compromises.

cons • Reduced polyphony of 12. • Mini‑jacks for MIDI I/O should not be a thing at this price.

summary The Iridium contains 35 years of Waldorf’s expertise in digital synthesis, and the Iridium Core is the most affordable version yet. Despite a slightly reduced voice count, it retains all the synthesis capabilities of the bigger Keyboard and Desktop versions.

form, with clock in and out and two CV inputs that can be used to play the synth monophonically or as modulation sources. We’ve covered the finer details of the synthesis engine in previous reviews, so if you want the full breakdown of anything mentioned above, I refer you to our previous reviews of the Waldorf Quantum (Iridium’s digital/analogue predecessor) and the Iridium Keyboard in the April 2019 and September 2022 issues, respectively. I’ll summarise by saying that the Iridium engine is a powerful beast that encompasses many synthesis types and has the potential to keep you in new and exciting sounds for many years.

Choices, Choices Waldorf are aiming to sell the Iridium Core to people who cannot afford a flagship synthesizer that costs thousands. And they’ve done an excellent job of making it compact and more affordable, although you still cannot describe it as cheap. Have they made the right decisions on what to cut from the bigger flagships? Clearly, they did not want to compromise on the engine. Patches are identical to the bigger siblings, and that makes total sense. I assume that the Iridium Core is running on a slightly less powerful chip, hence the reduction in the number of voices from 16 to 12. But that is the only software downgrade. The hardware is where the cuts have been made, most obviously by having fewer encoders and no keyboard. The side-effect of this is that the Iridium Core starts to feel a bit like a smart tablet with a few dedicated knobs and buttons attached. The lack of dedicated synthesis controls could impact your ability to use muscle memory to program the synth. I’m not sure that Waldorf could have avoided this, but it’s a fact nonetheless, and it’s worth bearing in mind that you can spend the exact same amount of money elsewhere and get a full hands-on synthesizer experience (just not the Iridium experience). The price is higher than I expected, especially for a unit using mini-jacks for MIDI, and I’m not sure why Waldorf kept the rubberised pads. They don’t serve much purpose other than to trigger notes and chords, and they aren’t velocity or pressure sensitive, so they are just gated buttons. I’m sure the price could have been more competitive without them, or at least the MIDI in and out could have been upgraded to 5-pin DIN.

Round The Back The Iridium Core has many of the same connections as its siblings: a 12V DC power socket and switch, headphone output, stereo audio inputs and outputs on unbalanced TS quarter‑inch jacks, four CV connectors on 3.5mm jacks (reduced from eight on the Iridium Keyboard), MIDI in and out also on 3.5mm jacks, USB connectors for USB MIDI computer connection, and a USB host socket for class‑compliant controllers or USB storage. Also, there’s a microSD card slot for file transfers, backups and OS updates. There are no pedal inputs, which makes sense as these can be supplied via a MIDI controller.

All this being said, the Iridium is still a flagship synthesizer. It is still an unbelievably powerful synth that could keep you busy for years. As a digital polysynth, it’s hard to think of an alternative that can do more, and you could spend a lifetime getting the best from it. The Core represents the most cost-efficient way to own an Iridium, and many people will prefer the smaller design and appreciate getting access to the ‘full’ synthesis engine. The Iridium software is full of nice little touches that make sound design more effective. The favourites system for patches is a lifesaver when you have thousands of sounds to go through. My personal favourite is the ability to save oscillator settings as presets. This allows you to save your favourite oscillators, including samples, or the much more complex Kernels configurations, so that you can reuse them in other patches. I point these things out as examples of how mature the Iridium engine is now. It’s six years old, has had many updates, and it builds upon 35 years of digital synthesis expertise. I was sceptical that the Iridium Core may have been hacked away at too much, but after spending time with it, I think it’s a great package. The build quality is excellent. You get all the power of the Iridium engine and the only real things missing are four voices and some knobs and buttons. Waldorf are doing a great job of offering the Iridium/ Quantum engine in as many different forms as possible, and it feels like there’s an option for everyone. £ £1349 including VAT. W www.handinhand.uk.net W www.waldorfmusic.com

www.soundonsound.com / September 2024

ON TE ST

Teknosign Box Line Double Width Audio Processors

With bold looks, original designs and affordable pricing, Teknosign’s preamp, EQ and compressor offer an intriguing alternative to better-known names.

September 2024 / www.soundonsound.com

SAM INGLIS

t’s amazing how things can fly under the radar, even in this age of information. I mean, if there was someone out there offering a large range of high-quality analogue audio equipment, mostly based on original designs and built entirely in

Europe, you’d expect to know about it, right? Especially if that equipment was being offered at very competitive prices? Well, perhaps I’m just out of the loop, but I hadn’t heard of Teknosign until I ran across their booth at this year’s NAMM Show. And when I did, I was impressed. Analogue outboard is now a choice rather than a necessity, and the market has changed as a result. There used to be numerous European and American manufacturers who specialised in developing affordable, functional, engineering-led designs, but quite a few have disappeared or changed their business models. The low end of the market is now dominated by Far Eastern manufacturing, and by copies of vintage outboard. A few companies successfully buck the trend — Drawmer, Radial Engineering, DAV and Lake People spring to mind — but increasingly it seems as though Western manufacturing and original designs are being squeezed out of the picture. So it’s refreshing to encounter a European manufacturer who are doing things their own way. Based in Liguria, Italy, about halfway between Genoa and Pisa, Teknosign began producing audio equipment in 2011, building on the already extensive electronics manufacturing experience of company founders Riccardo Angeletti and Claudio Furno. Notably, Teknosign don’t just design equipment to be manufactured offshore: they build

Teknosign Box Line Double Width pros

• Good-sounding processors, with the features you’d expect from professional units. • Pleasingly affordable, especially considering they are built entirely in the EU. • Versatile, well thought-out semi-modular system allows up to eight units to be powered from one PSU.

cons • Loose controls on review units. • Panel legends under the knobs are hard to read.

summary Teknosign’s Box Line is an impressive range of European-made analogue outboard, containing a broad range of processors that are affordable to almost everyone, yet perfectly at home in professional recording studios.

everything in their own factory, and in fact their relatively affordable prices are made possible by their ability to make almost every component themselves. PCBs, cases, knobs, buttons, switches, transformers and more are all produced in-house, and the only items that have to be bought in are meters and audio connectors.

What’s In The Box Line? New items are being added to the Teknosign range all the time, with the launches at this year’s NAMM Show including lunchbox-type guitar and bass amplifiers. There’s a pretty extensive selection of utility products, such as patchbays and power conditioners, and a handful of 1U rackmount processors including two summing mixers. But most of the company’s studio tools are currently offered as part of what they call the Box Line. These processors occupy one of two form factors, which can be used as freestanding desktop units or housed in a 2U rack enclosure that is sold separately. A single 2U rack housing can accommodate four standard Box Line processors or two Double Width units. At the time of writing, there are nine products in the basic Box Line. Many of these are utility devices — there’s an active and a passive DI, a passive stereo mic splitter, a headphone amp, a powered USB hub and a phantom power supply, for example — but the Box Line also includes the single-channel SSMP or Solid State Microphone Preamplifier, and what must be the world’s most compact 16:2 summing mixer. The Double Width range, meanwhile, comprises three products. The DSMP is a two-channel version of the SSMP, the PEQ is a solid-state equaliser inspired by the classic Pultec EQP-1A, and the VMC is a rather interesting compressor, of which more presently. For the purposes of this review, Teknosign sent me these three units along with the one basic Box Line device I haven’t yet mentioned. That device is called the RPS, and its diminutive front panel is home only to a fused IEC inlet and an on/off switch. Turn it around, though, and you’ll find eight DC power sockets. All powered Box Line and Double Width processors run on 24V DC, so a single RPS can be used to power up to eight units, with patch cables of different lengths included. It’s no different really from powering a guitar pedalboard, except that you don’t have to worry about devices with non-standard requirements, and the front-panel on/off switch on the RPS means

ALTERNATIVES The most obvious alternative I can think of for the DSMP, in terms of design and format, is DAV Electronics’ BG1. On the Pultec-style EQ front, both Warm Audio and Klark Teknik make keenly priced valve-based copies of the original EQP-1A. And if you’re looking for an affordable analogue compressor in a similar compact format, you could consider one of several options from Golden Age, though these are all vintage-inspired rather than original designs.

you don’t need to access the rear-panel on/ off buttons on the processors themselves.

Primary Colours With their contrasting blue front panels and red knobs, the Box Line products are eye-catching and very distinctive. I rather like the cosmetics, which come across as friendly and functional at the same time, and the only minor criticism I can level is that because the knobs protrude quite a long way from the cases, any legending underneath them is hard to see. The cases are made of aluminium, and seem robust. The settings of switched functions such as phantom power on the mic preamp or bypass on the compressor are clearly indicated using LEDs. Some of the controls on the review units were a little wobbly and I’d have liked a bit more resistance from the pots, but in general there’s nothing to suggest they wouldn’t survive intensive use over a long period. Audio I/O on all three of the Double Width units is exclusively on rear-panel XLRs, and is limited to the basic ins and outs. There’s no external side-chain input or stereo link function on the compressor, for example (although a 1U stereo version is in the works), and no high-impedance input on the mic preamp. All are designed to operate at ‘professional’ levels, with the compressor and equaliser accepting inputs of up to +20dBu and the metering configured so that 0VU=+4dBu. All three come with 24V external power supplies, so the RPS is very much an optional convenience rather than a necessity. Turning first to the mic preamp, this offers a 69dB gain range in 1dB steps, courtesy of coarse (10dB) and fine (1dB) rotary switches. Phantom power and polarity are individually switchable for each channel, as are not one but two filters. The high-pass filter has a 12dB/octave slope turning over at 80Hz, and there’s also the much more unusual option of a 6dB/octave low-pass

www.soundonsound.com / September 2024

TECHNIQUE

THE WORLD OF COMMERCIAL COMPOSITION

A Foot In The Door How do you get into making music for adverts and TV? I can only speak from my own experience. I had the desire to write music in this format from the beginning, so pitched my shop front up and tried to connect with any local film-makers I knew. Around the same time, where I live in Cornwall, there was a tide of corporates trying to get their product involved in surfing. I knew most of the surfers and, as there were no real budgets to speak of and consequently no industry heads dictating anything, I ended up writing for some big corporations. One in particular helped grow my portfolio significantly, as they liked what I was doing and linked me up with the many other sports they sponsored. This fuelled rapid growth and development, especially when some of the film-makers I’d worked with climbed the ladder and continued to use me or my ever-growing library of music. I got to know other clients primarily through word of mouth or by forging a direct relationship through constant networking, and only rarely over email or social media. I must have sent 10,000 emails in my time, through which I’ve gained only a handful of jobs. By contrast, getting your foot in the door with libraries can take a lot of submissions and consistent emailing. It’s worth the effort to find one that suits you and your style of music, and which can help you grow. I’ll always be an advocate of publishers over online-only libraries, as they are based around more interpersonal dealings, with a higher value placed on you and your music.

Goods In The Window It’s important to remember that any connection you make, even informally,

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is often followed by the person secretly checking out your website or online shop front, so these have to be engaging, creative and savvy spaces. What makes a good ‘shop front’? First, your website has to engage the end user and stop them immediately looking elsewhere. We’re creatives, let’s wow them! Secondly, we are in the commercial world where people have very little time and need an easy process. Ask yourselves these questions: • C an you make your website more immersive, impressive or easy to use? • Do all your links work, and can potential clients easily demo your work with a click or two? • Does your site give the impression that you are an experienced business person (even if you aren’t)? • Does it give the impression that you are brilliant at what you do? If not, why? • Looking at it subjectively, are there clear gaps in your work? How can you plan to fill these? To add to this, I would consider thinking about consistent branding and communication strategies that you can implement across all your social channels and online presence, so everything feels connected.

Spread Your Wings

of potential gigs, but they can also create a lucrative niche. If you are particularly prolific, one possibility is to work under multiple artist names.

Invest In Yourself As composers, we are in competition with many others. Quality of product is key here, and investment in the best is necessary. That applies both to equipment and skills. We’re often asked to beat temp music from a hugely successful artist, and we may also be spanning multiple genres and disciplines. What you use to make, record and mix your music is a matter of individual choice, but it’s important that it be immediate, fast to use and fully recallable. Some people expect all film composers to have a surround mixing setup, but as of 2024, 99 percent of adverts and TV features are asking for stereo only, so the need for any expansion above that will be rare at this stage. What is important is that your monitoring is translatable. Part of this is having great speakers in a room that you know, understand and trust, but you also need to be able to send clips quickly to your phone for reference because that’s where 99 percent of consumers will be listening. In addition, I personally have a range of really lovely headphones, as well as the ones that come with my phone, and a Bluetooth speaker that I’ve got wired directly in for single‑button A/B comparisons. Most phones are stereo these days, so I very rarely check mono compatibility. Lastly, you have to just make stuff sound fantastic to the end user. So much of this industry is about trust in one another, and people have a lot riding on their work. So I want to end by placing importance on personal learning and self-development. Learning techniques such as how to make bass come across on a phone will be hugely valuable. This is an emotion-led industry, and we’re here to take the emotion up to a level they didn’t realise was possible! Getting there is going to require experience and graft.

Does the commercial composer need to be a jack-of-all trades, or is it best to focus on a specific genre that you’re good at? There are no rules, but I would say this question is mainly about how you advertise yourself. I think you’ll find any working musician is incredibly talented in many fields and genres, and it can only be a good thing to expand your knowledge. As a small example, my first jobs were all dubstep-based, although I had no experience or even any intention of being associated with dubstep. The same layering techniques I learnt 10 years ago in doing that recently came in handy on an orchestral piece, where the client stated, “You’re the only one who’s managed to get the drums powerful enough for me.” In terms of business practice, sometimes it’s a pro and sometimes it’s a con when you put yourself out there as a jack of all trades, because people love to put you in a box. It’s vital to audition your Generally, those who work on smartphone speakers, have a ‘sound’ risk ruling since that’s how much of your themselves out from a lot audience will hear it.

Photo: Santeri Viinamäki

In terms of what we’ll call ‘enterprise income’, there are no rules, but the industry will naturally set amounts for you. For instance, it’s very rare that a publisher will pay up front for your music or any submissions. But you hope they are very good at what they do, and you’ll make money together. The same can be said if you choose to sell the rights to your music, or upload to a micro-transaction site. These are all business decisions you have to make. Similarly, bespoke composing for commercials is a business in itself. You have to consider your experience, the budget of the client, time taken and distribution. They will often dictate their budget and it’s up to you to negotiate.

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ON TE ST

Zoom H4essential Portable Recorder

“Just press record,” they say. Can it really be that easy? CHRIS TIMSON

or the best part of 20 years, Zoom Corporation have been making themselves a force to be reckoned with in the field of portable audio recorders, and I have a couple of their devices: the H3-VR Ambisonic recorder and the F8n eight-track field recorder. Both are well implemented pieces of kit, and I believe the H3-VR remains unique. So it was with some interest that I accepted an invitation to review the Zoom H4e (‘e’ for essential) recorder. Superficially, it isn’t dissimilar to the Tascam Portacapture X6 I reviewed in SOS June 2023, so I wondered how they might differ. It turned out that they represent two very different design philosophies and I’ll go into more detail about that below — but first let’s consider the Zoom on its own merits.

Hard Times The H4e is one of three recent arrivals in Zoom’s H-for-Handy range of recorders, all of which share the same design philosophy. The H1e is a basic handheld

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stereo recorder, with two built-in mics in an X-Y arrangement. The H4e adds two XLR/TRS combo sockets for external mic/ line sources, and the ability to record four tracks simultaneously. Finally, the H6e adds another two XLR/TRS combo sockets, and can record six tracks at once. All three appear to use the same built-in mics, so I’d expect them to sound pretty similar when recording through these in stereo. The big headline for all these recorders is the 32-bit floating-point recording format — in fact, they can record only in this format, and that’s a significant pointer to the intent of these machines, as I’ll explain in more detail below. The H6e is very similar in spec and use to the H4e apart from those two extra XLR/TRS inputs and the larger physical size necessary to accommodate them, so my conclusions will likely apply to both models. The H1e looks to be quite a different beast, though, with different controls and UI, so I won’t consider it further in this review. The H4e is quite light in weight for its size, not least because it requires just two AA batteries, and while the case is plastic it still feels pretty sturdy so it’s quite practical as a handheld recorder. The shape is no surprise either, with mics at one end, a colour screen on top and

controls scattered around as required. This layout works, so why change it? The built-in mics function as an X-Y stereo pair by default but they can be configured for mono capture. The screen is quite small compared with some other recent recorders but it does suffice. Below

Zoom H4e £189 pros • Extraordinarily easy to use. • Good built-in mics. • 32-bit floating point recording. • Fast boot time. • Doubles up as an audio interface. • Good battery life. • Accessibility option may be seriously useful for the visually impaired.

cons • Some might prefer more user-adjustable settings. • No PSU, SD card, batteries or physical documentation included.

summary The H4essential takes advantage of 32-bit conversion to streamline the process of recording. You can’t tweak much, but it’s quick to power up and, if you point the onboard or external mics in the right direction and hit record, the resulting recording should be good.

Zoom haven’t followed competitors in going down the touchscreen route, but there aren’t deep menus to dive either. Everything is accessed using either the thumbwheel and enter button on the side, or the dedicated buttons beneath the screen.

the screen, you have a set of transport controls and a couple of odd bods such as Mixer and Mic. Along the left-hand side is a line in socket that can also provide plug-in power for a suitable mic. Said mic will take precedence over the built-in mics if you use it. A line out socket doubles up as a headphone output that gives plenty of volume and quite a good sound for monitoring. Next to that there’s a volume control for the headphones and also for the in-built speaker that’s found on the back. As usual with portable recorders like this, to describe the sound quality of that speaker as ‘poor’ would be unusually kind, but of course that’s not it’s purpose — it’s really there for basic checking like, “Did I actually make a recording at all?” A plus point is that it’s quite loud. Next to the volume control is the microSD card slot (the H4e accepts microSDHC and microSDXC cards with capacities up to 1TB). At the lower end are the two XLR/TRS combo sockets that can provide 48V phantom power if required, and can thus support the full range of professional mics. These don’t replace the in-built mics, which are always available, but can record to additional tracks, giving us the full four that are advertised.

On the right-hand side is an on/off/hold slider switch, and a slot for the optional BTA-1 Bluetooth adaptor. There’s a USB‑C port that can be used to supply power and/or to support file transfer. You’ll have to provide your own PSU for external power, but most households will have such things coming out their ears, and for location work you can have the option of using an external USB power brick. Finally there’s a twiddly wheel and an Enter button. Both are key to the user interface, of which more anon. On the bottom panel, a quarter-inch threaded insert enables mounting on a camera tripod but, if you’d prefer a mic stand, 1/4‑ to 3/8-inch adaptors are widely available.

Getting Started The H4e recorder arrived in a neat little cardboard retail box accompanied by a few bits of paper concerning warranty and safety issues (it’s amazing how many safety issues it seems a device like this can have!), the Bluetooth adaptor (a cost option) and... nothing else: no batteries, no SD card, no PSU, no user manual and no quick start guide. I enquired to see if this was intentional and was told all was as it should be. Apparently, Zoom wish to minimise waste and do their bit for the planet, the idea being that you download the PDF manuals from Zoom’s website. I do have some sympathy with that idea, but I didn’t notice the QR code on the box until quite a bit later, and do think that just a couple of sheets providing a getting started guide would be a Good Thing. After I’d scrabbled around trying to find an unused microSD card (eventually

borrowing the one in my Zoom H3-VR) this gave me the perfect opportunity to try out my standard test with new kit: seeing how far I could get without a manual! The answer, once I’d worked out how the user interface worked, was a very long way. In fact, within about an hour, without any recourse to manuals, I had pretty much full control of the recorder — the user interface takes simplicity to a whole new level. Having said that, when I first turned the H4e on I found myself vainly poking at the screen, thinking it might be touch‑sensitive like the one on my Tascam Portacapture. Then I started prodding buttons randomly, but not understanding the results until I got onto the little twiddly wheel (officially named the Selection Dial) and the Enter button. When first turned on, the recorder takes you through a setup procedure for language, accessibility, data and time. I soon twigged that you use the twiddly wheel to move between fields on the screen. Once the field you want is highlighted, you press the Enter button and a list of options is displayed. You use the twiddly wheel to scroll to the desired option and press Enter again to choose it. Apart a few single-purpose buttons on the front, this is the whole and only way you interact the user interface. Once I’d got used to it, I found working with it reasonably straightforward, helped by the fact that the option lists are deliberately quite short. However, when I tried the remote Bluetooth app on an iPad I realised how much I missed the touch screen on my Portacapture. Once past the startup procedure, I arrived at the normal starting screen, at the top of which is displayed the elapsed recording time, the total amount of available recording time and an indication of the battery life. In the middle is a section for each microphone, and all are turned off.

www.soundonsound.com / September 2024

ON TE ST

Moog Muse Polyphonic Synthesizer

September 2024 / www.soundonsound.com

A Moog polysynth is always a big event, but is the Muse the inspiration you’ve been waiting for? GORDON REID

here was a time in the early 1970s when all synthesizers were called Moogs, no matter which company built them, just as all ballpoint pens were Biros and all vacuum cleaners were Hoovers. But despite being the world’s most recognisable synthesizer brand, Moog have hardly been prolific and, if you list their polyphonic instruments from the past 55 years, you’ll find that there have been just seven, two of which weren’t released, and another of which wasn’t a polysynth at all. So today I have in front of me Moog’s eighth (or maybe fifth) attempt to capture the hearts and minds of the polysynth market. I wonder whether it will succeed. While neither as large nor as heavy as the Moog One (with which it shares some features) the Muse is still a chunky beast weighing in at 14.5kg and, notwithstanding some wobbly faders that hark back to the days of the Rogue, Liberation and Opus III, it feels solid and robust. Its 61-note keyboard offers both velocity and aftertouch sensitivity but neither polyphonic aftertouch, nor MPE, nor the more exotic performance capabilities that recently appeared elsewhere. So, if you want to control this with that while wiggling something else, you might need to look somewhere else. Despite boasting almost 200 controls, its panel is clear and (in my view) very attractive, and its menus — many of which are accessed using the triangular buttons in the voicing panes — have just a single tier, which helps to keep things simple. All of the housekeeping is carried out in the Programmer section toward the centre of the panel and, while small, the monochrome screen is adequate if you don’t mind scrolling up and down a bit.

The Signal Path The basic sound generation unit of a Muse sound is the Timbre, and this can be polyphonic, monophonic, or unison monophonic. A patch contains two Timbres and you can switch between these, split them or layer them. The eight voices are then distributed according to your choice from the various voicing modes. At first glance, a Timbre appears to be based upon a dual-oscillator-per-voice architecture, but the powerful Modulation Oscillator offers an audio mode and tracks

the keyboard perfectly, so triple-oscillator patches are never far away. Oscillators 1 and 2 are based upon those used in the Voyager and, in addition to the standard facilities, they offer sync and bidirectional FM for a wide range of clangourous noises. The Modulation Oscillator is also based on the Voyager design but generates a different set of waveforms and can be disconnected from the keyboard for constant modulation rates and drones. You can use it as a modulator in either range and it provides eight simultaneous modulation destinations directly from the control panel. Glide is also provided. It offers linear constant rate, linear constant time and exponential options, and you can direct it to any selection of the three oscillators as you choose. The audio mixer lies next in the signal path. We often take such devices for granted, assuming that they sum the signals presented to them without imparting any sonic characteristics, but that’s not the case here. The Muse’s mixer is based upon the Moog CP3 module and mixes the outputs from all three oscillators, the osc 1/osc 2 ring modulator (which was inspired by the Moogerfooger MF-102) and the white‑noise generator. At low levels, it does this without clipping, but you can overload it to distort and fatten the signal. Interestingly, you can create DC offsets in the mixer to cause it to clip more asymmetrically, and this creates a further range of distortions. Next come two 24dB/octave filters based upon the 904a filter module. The difference between them is that filter 1 has high-pass and low-pass modes, whereas filter 2 is dedicated to low-pass duties. Both offer the expected facilities, but there are just three keyboard tracking options available from the panel, although you can obtain anything ranging from zero to more than 100 percent using the menus. You can use either or both filters as additional oscillators, which means that you can have up to five sources in a Timbre, even before you invoke the ring modulator and noise. There are three signal routing options — serial, stereo and parallel — and you can link the filters so that Filter 2’s cutoff knob adjusts both equally, allowing you to use them as a single notch or band-pass filter. Unfortunately, the Muse has no audio inputs, so you can’t use its filters as external audio processors.

The Muse’s VCAs are based upon the Moog 902 module, but implemented in stereo so that you can pan voices or Timbres within the stereo field. You can even link the phases of applied LFOs to the pan position, which is a novel idea, and the VCA menus offer a gain offset so that you can create drones and other effects. Following this, the output section offers independent levels for the main audio and headphone outputs, a mute for the main outputs, and a simple 6dB/oct high-pass filter to remove deep bass that might interfere with other instruments in a mix. Paralleling the path between the VCAs and the outputs section, the Diffusion Delay is a digital effect unit that, in addition to stereo delays and ping-pongs, can create diffuse effects that approximate reverberation. But it’s unable to create choruses and other modulation effects because — at least at first sight — it contains no LFOs to sweep the treated signals. Nonetheless, the manual mentions ‘chorused diffusion’, so I asked the chaps at Moog what was going on. They told me, “The character knob is bipolar. If you turn it clockwise from 12 o’clock you wind up with non-chorused diffusion (ie. the sound is fed through a diffusion network made up of 24 individual delay lines), and if you turn it counter-clockwise you obtain chorused

Moog Muse £2999 pros • It’s a genuine Moog polysynth and it sounds like it. • The well-designed control panel encourages programming and experimentation. • It offers good connectivity for both analogue and MIDI studios. • It looks and feels ‘just right’ — attractive, solid and robust all at the same time.

cons • It offers neither poly aftertouch nor MPE. • It has very limited effects capabilities by modern standards. • There are no audio inputs. • Some important features are still in development.

summary I suspect that Moog’s latest polysynth will be their most successful to date. Despite one or two limitations, it looks great, it’s pleasant to use, it has a big Moog-y sound, and it doesn’t come with an unobtainium price tag. If you’re in the market for an upmarket analogue polysynth, you have to try it.

www.soundonsound.com / September 2024

TECHNIQUE

The Tape Mindset

Steve Osborne.

An Analogue Approach To Our Digital World

Working with analogue tape wasn’t all good, but it did impose a discipline on recording sessions that was hugely beneficial — and which our DAWs have made optional. NEIL ROGERS

recent chat with producer Steve Osborne (New Order, U2, Elbow, Doves, Happy Mondays and more) prompted this article. We were discussing techniques he’s carried over from the days of tracking bands to analogue tape to his current DAW-based work, and it struck me that, despite advances in technology, the basics of his approach haven’t really changed that much. It seemed to be a conscious choice too: he sees real benefit in the approaches that working with tape imposed on both engineers and artists, and he’s very clear about the importance of making and committing to creative decisions as you go. I’ve recorded to tape many times, as an engineer and a drummer, but when I started as an engineer it was already yesterday’s technology. Steve, on the other hand, was working on big sessions when tape still ruled the roost; he has vastly more

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experience with it than I do, especially when it comes to higher-end commercial sessions. So, wanting to explore this in more detail, we had further chats and in this article — which is less of an ‘interview’ and more a co-authored feature, really, with lots of input from Steve — I’ll discuss the ways in which DAW-based engineers and artists might benefit from getting into a bit more of a ‘tape mindset’.

Ready To Roll? You probably know something about analogue tape: its sonic qualities, the limited track counts or even that edits entailed using a razor blade. But something Steve stressed that’s often overlooked is that working with tape imposed a different mindset on a session, right from the very start. Engineers needed to ensure that the machine was properly aligned and biased. The tapes had to be organised, ready to be put into action quickly. On every session, someone needed to operate the tape

machine — not just hitting Play, Record or Rewind, but also loading the reels and locating sections of a song quickly for ‘punch-ins’. They needed to know what was recorded on which tracks, and which tracks to arm for the next take. Filling out track sheets, keeping notes... the list goes on. Steve reckons this was all really important in creating a sense of focus and attention. For any session to run smoothly, everyone in the production team had to be present and actively engaged most of the time. Today’s tech gives us so many ‘safety nets’ that we risk losing that sort of focus and control, which means we need a good dose of self-discipline!

Track Counts Back in the days of tape, there were significant technical limitations compared with our DAW-based setups, and one was the number of tracks available to work with. There were mixing desks with vast numbers of inputs, but the tape machines would

have only 16 to 24 tracks, at most. In most recording sessions, therefore, you were limited to recording to 16 or 24 tracks (fewer in some smaller studios), and you might have to reserve a track for time code too. It was possible to synchronise two machines for more tracks, but good, low-noise tape machines were expensive, it used twice as much tape, and this wasn’t really a desirable or very practical way of working. All this had a huge influence on how studio sessions were run. It was necessary to mix some parts together and record them to the same tape track, and choosing what should be mixed (there was no ‘undo’!) influenced other decisions: what needed to be recorded when, for instance. Even with the best-laid plans, a need to add more parts would often arise, and to free up the necessary tracks you had to ‘bounce down’ multiple recorded parts to the last one or two remaining tracks. Again, such decisions were destructive, and the more times you bounced things down the more quality you’d sacrifice. So, great care had to be taken that sounds being committed to tape were in phase and generally as close to a ‘finished’ sound as possible. In short, it was necessary to plan ahead and to commit to lots of decisions as you went along that, today, could seem tempting to put off. DAWs offer us unlimited tracks if we want them, but while that freedom can be a good thing, it creates a risk: because we don’t need to plan ahead, it can be tempting to keep our options open ‘just in case’ — in which case, our projects can start to drift along a bit aimlessly. You don’t have to stick to 16 or 24 tracks, but planning a project as if you do can be very helpful. It ensures you’ve really thought about what a project should sound like, and that will help you to remain

Tape machines needed maintaining, calibrating and operating throughout a session, all of which can be viewed as chores. But such jobs ensured everyone on a session was constantly focused on the task in hand.

more focused throughout the project. Also, when it comes to mixdown and you ‘pull up the faders’, you’ll probably find the mix is already halfway there, with the sounds already working together and being at roughly the right level. So mixing becomes quicker and, because you’re freer to focus on the vibe and the creative side of mixing, much more fun.

Takes, Drop Ins & Edits Our DAW software gives us powerful editing tools, but basic editing was still possible with tape recordings. A competent engineer could cut tape and splice different bits together, whether to create a comp from different takes or to make arrangement changes. A good engineer could

even chop out problem noises, duff notes or drum hits. There was a whole different level of jeopardy and time involved, even if Steve reckons wielding the razor blade wasn’t nearly as terrifying as it might sound (you don’t miss what you’ve never had). But Steve reckons that, presumably because neither engineers nor performers thought of editing as a safety net, major mistakes were rare. Engineers like him, who cut their engineering teeth in the world of analogue recording, had to be musically engaged in a session, not just technically. They needed to know if there were any issues with that last take, be able to communicate with the artists about that, and be ready to manually ‘punch in’ (record over a specific section of a recorded part), with limited visual cues. When I talk to them about sessions in those days, they often describe a more collaborative environment that was more fun and rewarding than when you’re glued to a computer screen, poring over the endless options for ‘perfecting’ that last take.

Artists & Performances Artists and musicians were used to the same way of working. Before I was an engineer, I was a drummer, and I can clearly remember when recording to tape the focus being on getting a good, full take, before perhaps dropping in a few ‘fills’ or ‘frills’. Editing was a pain (there was certainly no

Tape machines had 16 or 24 tracks at most, so careful session planning and record keeping was a necessity. Today, we’re free from such limitations — but that means we’re also faced with the risk of becoming lazy in our preparation and decision making.

www.soundonsound.com / September 2024

ON TE ST

Icon Pro Audio/ Harrison 32Ci USB Audio Interface

Boring preamps have long been a given in audio interfaces, but all that is about to change... SAM INGLIS

udio interfaces have had mic preamps built into them for almost as long as there have been audio interfaces. But for many years, it seemed as though manufacturers had signed a secret pact to make their preamps as boring as possible. Interface designers were slow to wake up to the fact that not every user wanted a completely transparent, neutral input stage, and that in fact many people were spending really rather a lot of money to augment their transparent, neutral input stages with third-party mic preamps that offered a bit of character. In the last few years, we’ve seen a sprinkling of interfaces with transformer-balanced preamps that can add a little mojo to proceedings, including Steinberg’s UR-RT models, Neve’s 88M and the forthcoming Heritage Audio i73 Pro. It’s still a surprisingly sparsely populated market sector, though, so the emergence of a new contender is very pleasing. That contender is a collaboration between a relatively young company, Icon Pro Audio, and veteran console designers Harrison. In some ways, it’s a fairly conventional USB audio interface, but in place of the usual boring mic preamps, it employs the input stage from Harrison’s 32-series consoles. So, as well as heritage preamps, it has an unusually extensive filter implementation featuring high- and low-pass filters that can be swept right through the midrange. And, as we’ll see, it also has a few other unusual qualities.

Short Back & Sides The 32Ci is a desktop device with a gently raked, squarish case measuring nearly nine inches by 10. The controls are housed on the top, the two headphone sockets are at the front, and all the other I/O is located on the slightly deeper rear panel. Build quality and industrial design are impressive, and there’s a real sense of class to the 32Ci that belies its competitive pricing. One reason why boring preamps are the norm in audio interfaces concerns power requirements. As well as offering good specifications, modern off-the-shelf,

September 2024 / www.soundonsound.com

chip-based designs are very efficient, which is an especially important consideration in bus-powered devices. If Icon Pro Audio had taken that route with the 32Ci, I’m sure they’d have been able to make it powered over USB, but the inclusion of the Harrison preamps necessitates an external PSU. The unit also gets noticeably warm in use, though thankfully there are no fans to kick in and ruin your best takes. All of the 32Ci’s controls seem to use conventional pots, and there is nary an endless encoder to be seen. The master volume control is flanked by 12 LEDs which act as a pair of six-segment meters. The two interesting preamps are fed from combi XLR/jack sockets, and can be switched into a high-impedance mode to accommodate signals from electric guitars and basses. There’s an additional pair of inputs on quarter-inch jacks; depending on the setting of a rear-panel button, these can operate as balanced line-level inputs accepting levels up to +24dBu, or as unbalanced ‘consumer’ inputs optimised for the -10dBV standard. On the output side, there are two pairs of quarter-inch jacks in addition to the aforementioned headphone outputs. These are configured in a slightly unusual arrangement, which I’ll return to in a moment. There’s also digital I/O, comprising a single ADAT optical in and out, MIDI in and out, and two USB Type‑C sockets. One of these is used to connect the 32Ci to the host computer, while the other is labelled OTG and is intended for streaming audio from the 32Ci to a phone or tablet. If you use an Apple device, you’ll need the official Camera Connection Kit or similar rather than a generic USB cable.

Buffering The Hits Basic audio interfaces often handle cue mixing and low-latency monitoring using only hardware controls. As the I/O count

mounts up, though, this gets impractical, and so more complex interfaces have digital mixing and routing facilities, configured using a software control panel. The 32Ci is the only interface I’ve come across that falls into both camps at once. How so? Well, inasmuch as there is mixing and routing functionality built into the 32Ci, it’s all-analogue and controlled from hardware. However, you can also install a macOS and Windows program called IO Pro. This looks similar to the mixer utilities supplied with many other interfaces, but instead of adjusting settings on DSP in the interface, it runs entirely natively. It’s perhaps best thought of as a host-based alternative to your DAW’s own mixer window that runs in parallel with your DAW. The main Core Audio or ASIO driver presents a total of 14 physical I/O paths to and from your DAW at base sample rates (four analogue plus stereo OTG and eight ADAT), while a second ‘loopback’ driver presents four stereo virtual I/O paths, if selected. The 32Ci itself is blissfully unaware of the virtual I/O, but both sets appear in the IO Pro mixer. On macOS, therefore, the IO Pro mixer has a total of 12 mono and five stereo input channels; things get more complex on Windows, thanks to the need to integrate ASIO and WDM paths. There’s also a stereo master output and four stereo aux busses, each of which can be returned either to the master output or direct to a physical or virtual output path. Pressing the button labelled Mon adds what is in effect a second master channel that can be routed to a different physical output. This monitor channel has an undocumented pop-up labelled Direct, which presents a 4x4 matrix with sliders, and appears to do nothing whatsoever in my system. Perhaps it has a function in the Windows version.

Icon Pro Audio/Harrison 32Ci £429 pros • Stylish design and construction. • Good sound quality and specifications. • Surprisingly creative and useful filtering options on the inputs. • OTG port for integrating phones and other USB devices. • IO Pro mixing utility provides versatile virtual devices and routing options. • Good value.

cons • Built-in low-latency monitoring is quite basic. • IO Pro needs further development in some areas. • As IO Pro is host-based, you might as well use your DAW’s mixer unless you need its virtual I/O. • No control over or information available about ADAT clocking. • Some important topics aren’t covered in the documentation.

summary The 32Ci has some frustrations, but its pedigree preamps, funky filtering options and novel blend of software and hardware cue mixing make for something refreshingly different.

Clocking arrangements concerning the 32Ci and IO Pro are opaque. On macOS, Audio MIDI Setup allows you to select a clock source, but this only seems to relate to its relationship with the loopback driver and other Core Audio devices, and ADAT does not appear as an option. My tests suggested that if the 32Ci receives a valid ADAT signal at the sample rate your DAW is using, it’ll automatically clock to that and make the ADAT inputs available to record. If no ADAT source is connected, or there’s a sample rate mismatch, the 32Ci reverts to its internal clock and mutes the ADAT inputs. However, there is no visual indication at all to tell you

Beginning at the left of the rear panel we find a USB‑C port for computer connection and a second USB‑C port labelled OTG for interfacing with a phone or tablet. Moving on, there are ADAT I/O ports, full size MIDI I/O sockets, quarter-inch main and ‘Alt’ outputs, quarter-inch line inputs and a pair of combi inputs. A pair of headphone ports is found at the front of the unit.

www.soundonsound.com / September 2024

FE ATURE

Ken Scott & Emre Ramazanoglu: Ziggy Stardust In Atmos David Bowie’s classic album has been reinvented in three dimensions. SAM INGLIS

n July 6th, 1972, an unearthly figure in a blue and gold quilted onesie made music history. David Bowie’s Top Of The Pops performance of ‘Starman’ influenced countless future hitmakers, taking glam rock in a strange and thrilling new direction. The song and its parent album The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars established

Ken Scott at Abbey Road Studios.

September 2024 / www.soundonsound.com

Emre Ramazanoglu has become one of Britain’s leading Atmos mix specialists.

Bowie as a superstar, and would form the cornerstones of his incredible musical legacy. Fifty-two years on, that legacy is being celebrated with a box set of outtakes and rarities entitled Rock & Roll Star, and an entirely new Atmos mix of the Ziggy album. Both were overseen by original co-producer Ken Scott, who worked with Emre Ramazanoglu to carry out the immersive remix from the original multitracks.

Star Quality Back in 1972, Ken Scott was an ambitious house engineer at London’s Trident Studios who was looking to spread his wings. “I had done two albums with David as an engineer, with Tony Visconti producing, and David and Tony split ways. And I was working with David, who was taking some time off after having very little success with the two TV albums. He came in to produce a friend of his, a gentleman by the name of Freddie Beretti who finished up being a clothes designer for David.

“Freddie wasn’t a great singer to say the least, but it put David and I back together again and it was at a time when, as an engineer, I was getting very bored with what I was doing. Everything seemed the same, and I wanted more artistic say. So, during one of the breaks in the sessions, I happened to mention this to David, and he said ‘I’ve signed a new management deal. They want to put me into the studio to record an album whilst they shop a record deal. I was gonna produce it myself, but don’t know if I’m capable of doing it. Will you co-produce with me?’ An instant ‘Yes!’ and that was the start of a four-album relationship.” Co-producing, as far as Bowie was concerned, meant joining a core group of creative people who worked together. “David was brilliant at putting together great teams. For the Ziggy period, that was Trevor Boulder, Woody Woodmansey, Mick Ronson, myself and then a pianist. That changed on three of the albums, but we all had our input, and then the final thing for me was David’s trust, because I think of the four albums

that I did with him, he came along to only two mixes. The rest was just left up to me. Whatever I chose to do in the mixes was fine, I guess, because once the album was completed, we never spoke about it again! “Some of the songs had been routined, but not all of them. Quite often he would just teach the band the song in the studio, and then they got to work out what they were going to play themselves. I’ve heard that from various people, like Carlos Alomar and Mike Garson. They all say the same. When he put a team together, he picked them because he knew what they would bring to it. And he wanted them to do that. He didn’t want anyone to do it the way he wanted it, if you get it — it was the way they would normally do it. He didn’t want to direct them that much.”

Tracking Ziggy Stardust was recorded at Trident, with Ken Scott engineering. A single 16-track machine proved ample for capturing everything. “We made

www.soundonsound.com / September 2024

ON TE ST

Lauten LS-408 & LS-508 Drum Microphones

Lauten’s classy new capacitor microphones are purpose-made for toms and snare drums. PAUL WHITE

e’re accustomed to using dynamic mics on the individual drums in a kit, but Lauten have taken a different approach with their LS-508 and LS-408 models, which are also dubbed simply the Tom Mic and Snare Mic. The Tom Mic (LS-508) uses a 32mm supercardioid capsule in a side-address configuration. Its FET circuitry is combined with integral analogue sound-shaping specifically designed to meet the challenges of tom miking, such as minimising cymbal bleed. As this is a capacitor microphone, 48V phantom powering is required. Lauten Audio use

Lauten LS-408 & LS-508 £385 each pros • Sturdy. • Voiced for their specific applications. • Solid sound.

cons • Not cheap — but then these are very well-engineered mics.

summary A well-built, great-sounding pair of drum mics specifically voiced for toms and snare drums.

September 2024 / www.soundonsound.com

what they describe as a bleed-blocking head design, and this, combined with their proprietary dual‑bias circuitry, is said to offer up to 28dB of off-axis rejection. The capsule is shockmounted to minimise the effect of vibration if mounted on a rim clip, and the basket even includes a mildew-resistant dust filter to avoid problems caused by the decay of accumulated drum stick dust. With a stubby, side-address profile, the mic comes with a swivel mount secured via a locking ring, and I’m pleased to see that it has a very strong locking mechanism so mic droop shouldn’t be a problem. The overall size of the mic is 127 x 60mm, or 131 x 106mm if you include the mount. Weight is 450g with the mount in place. A satin black finish is applied to the mic body, basket and mount, embellished with a red Lauten crest that denotes the front of the mic. A pair of three-way toggle switches on the mic body engage high-pass and low-pass filtering, with two frequency options for each filter, plus a flat setting. This filtering isn’t as straightforward as it seems: the response curve has been shaped specifically for toms, and the same is true of the Snare Mic, the latter having a 1kHz dip combined with a small peak at around 3kHz. With the low-pass filter set to its ‘flat’ position, the frequency response is not actually flat but rather unmodified. The mic’s

‘default’ frequency response exhibits a lift from 1-2 kHz, dips sharply at 3kHz, then rises at around 5kHz to capture the stick attack. There’s also reduced sensitivity from 9kHz to 14kHz to minimise cymbal bleed. Using the 12kHz low-pass filter tames bright tom strikes and further reduces cymbal bleed. The 5kHz setting attenuates cymbal bleed even more, while still preserving the general impact and tone of the tom. With the high-pass filter switch in the flat position, low frequencies are not filtered

Unlike the LS-508 Tom Mic, the LS-408 Snare Mic is an end-fire design.

out. Since smaller toms may not produce so much low end, there are 80Hz and 140Hz high-pass options for cleaning up the lows and reducing kick‑drum spill. The frequency response of the mic (without filtering) is quoted as 20Hz‑20kHz, though with no ‘dB down’ limits specified, those figures are not particularly informative. Dynamic range is specified as 135dB minimum and the self-noise a low 15dB A‑weighted. Expressed as a signal-to-noise ratio, this works out at 79dB. While normal drum miking doesn’t require particularly low noise figures, it is good to know that this mic is quiet enough to use on alternative forms of percussion that may not be so loud. Both the Tom and Snare Mics have a deliberately lower sensitivity than for a typical general-purpose capacitor mic, as close‑miked drums present a loud environment. The LS-508’s sensitivity is specified at 1.3mV/Pa.

LS-408 Snare Mic The LS-408 Snare Mic is also a FET capacitor microphone, with a similarly stubby form factor body and the same mounting hardware, but this time configured as an end-fire mic. The capsule is also a 32mm design, but here with a cardioid pickup pattern rather than supercardioid, and it has a different response in the mids and highs. This model has an overall size of 109 x 50mm, or 112 x 71mm with the mount. There are the same body-mounted EQ switches, with the same options as for the Tom Mic. As before, the flat low-pass option delivers an unfiltered high-frequency response to capture the stick impact, maintaining an airy high end while the low end captures the punch of the fundamental frequency. As with the LS-508, the low-pass filtering options can be used to shape the high end or to reduce bleed from cymbals and hi-hats. Overall, the general specifications are very similar to those of the Tom Mic, but with a slightly different sensitivity of 0.5mV/Pa. Both mics are shipped in cardboard boxes and include the mount, a cleaning cloth with Lauten logo, and a padded zip-up storage bag.

Performance While they’re not the cheapest options for recording toms and snares, given that these are FET capacitor mics they are not unduly costly either, especially taking into account the reputation of their manufacturer. The mounting hardware is excellent, and the short, stubby bodies

The Tom and Snare Mics both feature the same high- and low-pass filter options, but have different ‘default’ frequency responses to suit their respective sources.

make positioning easy. They are also solidly engineered so the odd wayward drum stick shouldn’t upset them too much. As with most drum mics, you have to know what to expect from a close-miked tom position, as some of the stick articulation invariably gets suppressed, and the proximity effect of the supercardioid capsule also beefs up the low end as you get closer. If that becomes too much, the built-in high-pass filters on both models are a very welcome addition. Once you add in your overhead mics, you get a really solid tom sound with just the right amount of stick impact. I also tried the Tom Mic on my set of three Rototoms; positioned maybe half a metre above the toms, the drums stayed pretty well balanced and I didn’t lose the ringiness and stick impact as you often do when putting a mic very close. With both models, you will capture more stick attack by aiming the mic across the head, starting from the usual ‘just inside the rim’ position around 50mm above the head, which means that you can get a good position using a rim clip if that is your preference. Aiming the mic across the head in this way is Lauten’s recommendation. The Snare Mic also demonstrates what most engineers already know about positioning. If you just mic the top head, you lose some of the snare sound but capture a good solid punch, so the overheads might

bring back just enough snare rattle for the drum mix to work. If not, you can mic the bottom of the snare (remembering to invert the polarity relative to the top mic, if using both). Used beneath the snare, the Snare Mic captures all the snare snap and rattle you could wish for, and you can filter out the lows using the onboard EQ to avoid too much kick-drum spill. Used on its own, the sound from an under-snare position becomes very snares-heavy, so balancing the top and bottom mics in the context of what the overheads are capturing is the key to a well-balanced snare sound. Another advantage of adding an under-snare mic is that you can use the filters on the top mic to suppress the spill from hi-hats and cymbals without losing high-frequency articulation, as the under-snare mic puts that back in. Having two different HF roll-off positions is a big help in that respect. Both these mics are strong performers, and though they won’t compensate for poor mic technique, they do allow for more flexibility than most commonly used snare and tom mics when in the right hands. Their drum-specific voicings are invaluable, as are the flexible filter settings that are specifically tailored to the job in hand. £ £385 each, including VAT. T Synthax Audio +44 (0)1727 821 870 E info@synthax.co.uk W www.synthax.co.uk W www.lautenaudio.com

www.soundonsound.com / September 2024

ON TE ST

SPL Phonitor 3 With its clever Phonitor Matrix, this high-end headphone amp aims to deliver a more speaker-like listening experience. PHIL WARD

ou perhaps don’t need me to point out that there’s something of a disconnect between the way most commercial music is mixed (on loudspeakers) and the way it’s increasingly consumed (via headphones). One result of this is that mixing on headphones is becoming much more common. Whereas, a decade or two ago, headphones in studios were primarily present for tracking and overdub duties, these days they also have an important mix role. This is especially the case for Dolby Atmos music mixes (other immersive systems are available), where the most often consumed end product is probably an Apple Spatial binaural headphone downmix. A further consequence of the expanded studio role of headphones is that headphone amplifiers have become more relevant. Previously, we all just plugged our headphones into an interface or mixing desk headphone socket, or maybe into a headphone distribution amp, and perhaps didn’t think too hard about how that affected the headphone sound. Yet, mixing on headphones means we’ve become more sensitive to headphone sound quality. The subject of this review, SPL’s Phonitor 3, reflects the increasing significance of headphone amplification.

September 2024 / www.soundonsound.com

But, more than that, it offers some intriguing headphone output configuration options. Christened by SPL the Phonitor Matrix, the configuration options enable some significant manipulation of the headphone listening experience, primarily with the aim of making it more speaker-like. It’s probably worth me mentioning that while I’m looking at the standard version here, SPL also offer a slightly more expensive option, the Phonitor 3 DAC — this covers much the same ground, but it also features a built-in 32-bit, DSD-capable D-A converter.

Ins, Outs & Basics While I’ve introduced the Phonitor 3 as a headphone amplifier, and that function does generally cover its defining set of features, it’s also a monitoring preamplifier that offers three balanced stereo XLR input pairs and one balanced XLR stereo output pair, for the connection of active monitors. Input source selection for both monitor preamp and headphone amplifier functions is achieved by a simple three‑position rotary switch on the front panel, and output volume is adjusted by a large and satisfyingly tactile machined‑aluminium volume knob. Having just deployed the term ‘tactile’, it strikes me that it’s a suitable one for the Phonitor 3 more generally, because the traditionally constructed and black‑painted

Headphone Amplifier

all‑metal enclosure feels really substantial and no-nonsense. It looks and feels like it means business. Also apparently meaning business is the Phonitor 3’s headphone amplifier itself. It’s powered, say SPL, from ±60V rails to provide significantly greater output power with very low noise and distortion, and its very low output impedance means there’s negligible change in frequency response with variable headphone impedance. I’ve mentioned the volume control and input selection switch on the Phonitor 3’s front panel, but there’s a lot more besides. Firstly, dominating the right-hand-side of this panel are two retro-looking VU input level meters that, say SPL, display BBC-style meter ballistic characteristics. (At this point I will recommend Hugh Robjohns’ fascinating history and explanation of the

SPL Phonitor 3 £1899 pros • Very high‑performance headphone amplification. • Fascinating and versatile headphone processing. • Very high build quality.

cons • Perhaps a solution looking for a problem.

summary The Phonitor 3 is an interesting and very well‑engineered product that does extremely competently exactly what it sets out to do.

VU meter in SOS May 2024, called ‘VU Meters: Virtually Useless or Very Useful?’ you can find this on the SOS website at: https://sosm.ag/vu-meters.) Second up, beneath the VU meters and alongside the 6.3mm headphone output socket, are six slide switches that engage or disengage the Phonitor Matrix options, and provide left/right channel swap, left/right channel polarity, left/right channel solo, VU range, and headphone or XLR output. On the left side of the front panel are five rotary controls and a further slide switch that configure and adjust the Phonitor Matrix and an option called Laterality.

Enter The Matrix To begin with, let’s consider the Phonitor Matrix options. The first is Crossfeed and, with the Phonitor Matrix enabled, turning this knob feeds an increasing amount of left-channel signal into the right headphone channel, and right-channel signal into the left headphone channel. The idea is to simulate the psychoacoustics of listening on loudspeakers where, it should perhaps go without saying, both ears hear both channels to some degree. Crossfeed, though, also adds some EQ to compensate for the fact that more interaural crossfeed from a pair of speakers is likely also to be accompanied by slightly emphasised high‑frequency balance. Adding crossfeed, say SPL, corrects to some extent the ‘false’ stereo image presentation of headphone listening that results from its absence. The second Phonitor Matrix option, Angle, is related to Crossfeed, in that it compensates for the interaural crossfeed time delay phenomenon (it takes fractionally longer for sound from each speaker to reach one ear than the other) of the speaker listening experience that’s absent on headphones. Again, the intention is to make headphone listening more speaker-like. The angle

ALTERNATIVES The professional audio world isn’t short of high-performance headphone amplifiers: the Benchmark HPA4, DACS Purity and Violectric HPA V550 for example. But if the Phonitor Matrix functions of the Phonitor 3 particularly appeal, then it’s one of a kind.

referred to in the parameter is the one that would be created by the stereo spacing of the imagined loudspeakers. The wider the spacing of the loudspeakers, the greater the interaural crossfeed time difference between them. As with Crossfeed, the Angle adjustment also comes with EQ to reflect the variation in head-related acoustic absorption at different imagined speaker angles.

options to be routed to the rear-panel XLR outputs, with or without the volume control operational. This enables, for example, a second headphone amplifier to be fed with a signal that’s been processed by the Phonitor Matrix.

Sound Opinion But what, I’m sure you’re wondering, does all this actually sound like? Well, to get the basics out of the way first, the fundamental headphone sound quality of the Phonitor 3 is, to my ears, excellent. I have a pretty wide variety of headphones available, with significantly differing sensitivities, impedance characteristics and tonal qualities, and each one sang with an impressive and seductive sense of clarity and impact when driven by the Phonitor 3. When considering its Phonitor Matrix functions, I have to admit that to begin with I was somewhat underwhelmed, because I found their effects decidedly subtle. But as I began to listen more and tune into their characteristics and behaviour, my opinion changed: I found the Phonitor Matrix functions increasingly interesting and useful, particularly the Angle and Centre functions. In fact, after getting used to the Phonitor Matrix processed headphone sound for a while, switching back to unprocessed headphones was a genuine disappointment. There’s no getting away from the fact that it’s a niche product, and when it comes to my opening point about the disconnect between people mixing on loudspeakers but listening on headphones, processing headphones to sound more like speakers probably asks more questions than it answers. But the Phonitor 3 is a likeable and strong product that’s impressively constructed and technically interesting. The headphone amp itself is good, and I could see the Phonitor 3 becoming indispensable in the right setting. It does a good job of emulating the speaker listening experience on headphones, and I can certainly see its potential in mastering studios or in mix environments that are extensively headphone rather than speaker based.

“I have a pretty wide variety of headphones available... and each one sang with an impressive and seductive sense of clarity and impact.” The third Phonitor Matrix option, Centre, enables adjustment of the relative level of the centre signal to compensate for the over-emphasis that will potentially result from adjustment of the Crossfeed and Angle parameters. The final front-panel knob, Laterality, controls a function that’s related to a traditional balance control. However, it simultaneously reduces the level of one channel while the other increases, and also offers extremely fine adjustment (just ±2.25dB across the Laterality control’s full range). The intention is to provide a balance control that can compensate for reduced hearing sensitivity in one ear. One more function to mention is the DIP switch array on the rear panel. As well as offering a +12dB headphone output option, this allows the headphone Phonitor Matrix

£ Phonitor 3 £1899. Phonitor 3 DAC £2599. Prices include VAT.

The Phonitor 3 can switch between three sources, and can deliver a clean output for speakers, or a Matrix-processed signal for other headphone amps.

T SCV Distribution +44 (0)3301 222 500 E sales@scvdistribution.co.uk W www.scvdistribution.co.uk W https://spl.audio

www.soundonsound.com / September 2024

ON TE ST

Korg MPS-10 Drum, Percussion & Sampler Pad Korg’s MPS-10 is a compact percussion instrument with hidden depths. MARK GORDON

org may not be the first name that springs to mind when it comes to electronic drums and percussion, but they actually have a great history of creating innovative and interesting percussion instruments, such as the classic DDD-1 from the 1980s, the Electribe R Analogue Modelling Rhythm Synthesizer and, of course, the iconic Wavedrum. It’s not exactly a prolific output, but Korg have often been thought-provoking and challenging of the status quo, and their entry into the sampling multi-pad market, the MPS-10, is no exception. Boasting an impressive 32GB of RAM, 2350

September 2024 / www.soundonsound.com

assignable instruments and more than 3000 high-quality samples, the MPS-10 also features ground-breaking Continuous Controller Pads that give you real-time control over internal effects, depending on where the pads are struck. A powerful four-track looper also adds to a package that is an intriguing and slightly different proposition from the usual suspects.

If Looks Could Kill At first glance, the MPS-10 has a familiar look, with its six square pads and a further four ‘shoulder’ pads placed across the top of the unit. A rubber covering extends across the whole of the top surface of the unit, almost as if each of the individual pads have been carved out of it. The covering wraps around the edges of the unit, giving it a rugged feel and creating the impression that you could safely hit the MPS-10 anywhere without damaging

it — although, ironically, Korg have chosen to locate the control panel and screen between two of the pads. While hardly radical, this placement does set the MPS-10 apart and reduces the overall footprint of the unit but, depending on how many times you end up hitting the screen while playing, it could either be a stroke of genius or a design disaster. In a nod to the new Roland SPD-SX Pro and the Alesis Strike MultiPad, coloured LEDs sit below each of the pads, but there is no option for setting your own colour configuration. Three preset colours are offered, depending on the sound type that’s assigned to the pad: red for a one-shot sound, blue for a repeating sound or loop, and green if no sound is assigned to the pad. As I mentioned above, the control panel sits neatly between pads one and two, and stretches the width of the two pads above it, making it smaller in terms of real estate than its competitors. This results in a slightly smaller colour LCD display than I would have hoped for. To the left of this LCD are Main Volume and Phones Volume controls, along with a knob to alter metronome tempo,

which incorporates push-button on/off functionality and two small LEDS either side, as visual tempo indicators. To the right is a large data-entry knob, alongside dedicated Edit, Write and Exit buttons. Two large +/- buttons are provided to advance through the kit presets (pressing the data-entry knob also ‘engages’ it as an alternative way to quickly scroll kits), and an equally large Sound Off button offers an immediate way to silence the unit. This can come in very handy when using loops and long samples. Dedicated buttons that take you directly to the Kit, Instrument, Sample and Utility screens are located beneath the LCD, along with a second row of buttons that control the looper functions: Looper FX, Record and Erase. The SW Mode button switches the functionality of the four large Track buttons between controlling the looper tracks and enabling the CC Pads. All the buttons are clearly backlit, making it very easy to read their labels on a dark stage. However, none of the knobs offer the same visual assistance. At the rear of the unit are a single quarter-inch stereo headphone socket, a left and right Main output, and an additional stereo Sub output pair, both on quarter-inch mono jacks. A stereo quarter-inch line input and mono quarter-inch mic input are provided to connect external signals, which can be processed by the MPS-10’s effects engine or used as a source for the sampler and looper. The mic input features a preamp and can be configured as a balanced or unbalanced connection, but it is worth noting that you can’t use the line and mic inputs simultaneously. Two ‘dual’ triggers are provided on stereo quarter-inch jacks, so four individual trigger inputs can be achieved using Y-splitter cables. While you could use two dual-zone pads with these inputs, there’s no option to select combination ‘Head & Rim’ triggers within the MPS-10, so you’d have to assign samples to both head and rim individually if you were using this type of trigger.

Alongside the triggers are two footswitch inputs, which can be used to control various functions of the MPS-10, such as kit advance and looper start/ stop, and an expression pedal input that can be assigned to looper volume, filter cutoff, reverb mix, pad decay and pad pitch. I had hoped that the expression pedal would allow for open and closed hi-hat control, but it appears that this is not possible. Two USB ports are provided: one for connection to a USB flash drive for backing up data or importing samples, and a second that allows both MIDI and audio information to be sent to and from a connected computer. Four channels of audio can be sent from the MPS-10, that correspond to the physical main outputs (1+2) and sub outs (3+4). A little surprisingly, the MPS-10 only has a MIDI out socket and no MIDI In. While many people will use USB MIDI communication, in my own hybrid drum setup I send MIDI Program Changes and MIDI Clock to my SPD-SX Pro via a good old-fashioned MIDI cable, something I couldn’t do with the MPS-10.

Play For Today The MPS-10 includes 100 preset kits and a further 100 user locations to store your own creations. The presets cover a very wide range of genres and styles, combining one-shot drum samples, loops, tuned percussion and sound effects that demonstrate the MPS-10 very well. The Funk Kit is a great example of a regular acoustic kit, and many of the instruments in this preset utilise both round-robin samples and velocity switching to great effect, giving the kit a natural and realistic sound. As you play the 14 x 5‑inch steel snare harder, it opens up with a wonderful metallic rim shot. One particularly nice touch is that Korg have added a bass drum sample to some of the cymbal and hi-hat instruments, which is triggered at a specific velocity. You can easily play a bass drum with a crash

Korg MPS-10 £949 pros • Great sounds and presets. • Innovative CC Pads. • Very good and easy-to-use Looper built in. • Can process external audio and include it in loops.

cons • No MIDI in. • Editing and sampling a little complicated. • Limited software editor. • Smallish LCD and non-configurable LEDs.

summary The MPS-10 is a very powerful tool, offering exceptional creative and innovative features in a unique and compact form.

or, with careful dynamics, add a kick-drum pattern to a hi-hat part using a single pad. As you might expect, electronic styles are well catered for with a host of hip‑hop, trap, dubstep and techno kits, many of them featuring percussion loops and musical phrases alongside 808-style kicks and EDM snares. Percussion presets span everything from traditional cajons, bongos and congas through to more exotic Middle Eastern and melodic instruments and, again, use round-robin and velocity-switching samples that enhance realism. As you switch between kits, the MPS-10 employs SST (Smooth Sound Transition), which allows instruments, loops and effects to continue playing when you switch to a new preset. This enables seamless transitions and allows you to access different kits while loops, samples and effect tails continue to play in the background. The only small criticism I have from a playing point of view would be the sensitivity of the pads. Even with sensitivity set at maximum, some lighter hits weren’t picked up. In general, percussion pads don’t offer the same subtlety offered by mesh pads on an electronic drum kit, so you won’t be doing any snare buzz rolls, but even so, compared to other percussion pads I’ve

Round the back we find a host of quarter-inch jack sockets for headphones, main and sub audio outputs, line and mic input, trigger inputs and footswitch and expression inputs. There’s also a MIDI out port and USB ports for an external drive and connection to a computer.

www.soundonsound.com / September 2024

ON TE ST

Cycle Instruments Tetrachords Eurorack Module

ustralian company Cycle Instruments have burst onto the scene with a very interesting and highly ambitious debut, the Tetrachords sequencer. A substantial module at 36HP, the Tetrachords promises big: polyphonic sequencing over both CV and MIDI, four sequencer tracks that can work separately or together and bounteous options when it comes to customising scales and chords. To best understand the Tetrachords’ philosophy, it’s worth taking a closer look at its name. The word ‘Tetrachord’ literally translates to ‘four notes’, and constitutes, for all intents and purposes, half a diatonic scale. Traditionally they’re bound by a perfect fourth — so the first tetrachord of a C major scale, for instance, is C, D, E and F, and the second is G, A, B and C. Of course, when it comes to modular, traditions are there to be broken. The Tetrachords presents its workflow as two rows of four buttons. Depending on the selected mode —

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Arp or Chord — these represent notes in a sequence or notes in a chord. Alongside each row of four is an encoder for selecting one of six scales: ostensibly, with both rows set to the same scale and order, and all steps engaged, the Tetrachords will play through that scale from start to finish. I say ‘ostensibly’ because even at this rudimentary stage the Tetrachords starts to open its behaviour up to wildly variable customisation and performance. Neighbouring Spread and Amount controls for each row can create octave leaps (of multiple octaves, if desired) and dictate the order in which these occur, labelled with little dots and lines and a little white LED meter respectively. A Reverse button switches the direction of travel; since there’s one of these for each tetrachord row, it’s possible to reverse the order of one but not the other. Ordinarily the forward motion of the transport is left to right on the top row (the first half) then left to right on the bottom (the second half). But a Path encoder on the right of the panel allows pretty much any route between these rows to occur: forwards then backwards, zig-zagging between rows, hopscotching back to the first note of the sequence after each step, quasi-random (with a re-randomisation button) and more. If that’s not enough a Roland

SH-101-inspired step‑sequencer mode allows user-programmable custom sequences of up to 32 notes as well. The last piece of the Tetrachords’ fundamental architecture is perhaps the most rewarding to play with, at least in the first instance. The Root encoder, with its handy ring of LEDs to show which notes are in play, can be used to change key or to change the starting note of a sequence within the confines of a scale. This might not sound particularly creative, but whistling through iterations of a sequence across one scale is essentially akin to creating chord progressions and is a fantastic compositional tool. It’s the closest thing I’ve come across to the tone‑row-based workflow of the Eventide Misha sequencer, and if you have read my review of that module you’ll know what an accolade that is. Now: all of the above applies when crafting one pattern. Above each of the eight main sequencer buttons is a little white ‘pill’ LED that represents the selected pattern, so program another pattern, or seven, and then use a pair of arrow buttons, or patch in some triggers, to cycle between them. In this sense, the Tetrachords offers a rather wonderful thing in an incredibly streamlined package: sequencing sequences. Fans of the Teenage Engineering OP-1’s Finger Sequencer will be familiar with the creative delights contained in sequencing sequences — let’s dub it meta‑sequencing — and those delights are here in spades. Each pattern can have its own slew settings, play as a chord or a linear sequence, have a different order and the rest. I found particular reward in setting the lot to Chord mode and working through progressions in orders that I would never otherwise have thought of. This leads us to the topic of polyphony: the Tetrachords can work over MIDI or CV, and interface between them, usefully. It has four tracks, all of which can work together or independently to various degrees. When using CV alone, these can be multitrack — that is, can output different sequences to different destinations — or they can be used to stack up to four oscillators polyphonically.

Whew! Fair to say the Tetrachords is a rather esoteric module on first impression, and in many ways its slightly congested faceplate doesn’t offer the most intuitive layout. This is a complex module, and it feels like not much has been done to mitigate that complexity or give much of a foothold. That said, spend a little time getting to know it and things get much more fluid. And after all, you might say it’s part of the territory with something so incredibly powerful. The manual, if you’re interested, is 167 pages long.

Glasgow Synth Guild Oct Tone Eurorack Module

n a passing glance, you’d be forgiven for thinking this is a module from Glasgow-based Instruo Modular. However, Oct Tone is the first module from a new endeavour. The Glasgow Synth Guild emerged from the remarkable growth of Instruo over the last couple of years, and while the cross-modulations run deep, they are their own thing. The Guild is a collective of Instruo builders and specialist designers who will be producing modules for other companies, as well as themselves. The Oct Tone is the reimagining of the Octone, originally designed by Instruo’s Jason Lim for Qu-Bit Electronix back in 2016, and it’s an eight-step sequencer. The interface is circular. It starts with a Rate knob sitting proudly in the centre. Surrounding that are eight knobs setting the pitch or CV level for each step. Shooting off from the eight knobs are eight light-infused pulse-activation buttons, and finally, eight gate output sockets complete the cascade. These four elements control the hypnotic dance of lights in our circle of sequencing. Each knob sets the voltage for the step in the range of 0-5 V. This can be unquantised or you can engage one of the six scale modes to ensure some musical behaviour. The modes are switchable from a button at the bottom left and reflected in some illuminated hieroglyphs that form an arc around the left side of the Rate knob.

Interestingly, the Tetrachords has no onboard clock, which might come as a surprise. Instead it expects triggers, over MIDI or CV, which on reflection I think is a very good move. The message from Cycle Instruments is clear: this is a tonal, melodic module, and it’s ready to get to work with your other, rhythmic modules. In that capacity it truly excels, and Cycle Instruments have managed, somehow, to stretch the already well-explored boundaries of sequencing in Eurorack. If this is their debut, I can’t wait to see what’s next. William Stokes £ W

£615 www.cycleinstruments.com

The pulse buttons enable the sending of a pulse to the pulse output for the corresponding step. It doesn’t affect the sounding of the step, just whether a pulse is sent at the same time. This enables you to set up some rhythmic triggering of an envelope to a VCA or filter. The fact that they exist in a circle somehow gives it a different feel than a straight-line sequencer with gate switches. With an enabled pulse you also get a gate from the step’s individual output. This is something I found I had to work hard at in order to make it useful. So, once per cycle I get to trigger an event of some kind, or up to eight different events in a series as the steps go around. It does give you an alternative trigger to the main pulse output, and you just have to think creatively about ways to use it. You can run a sequence either clockwise, randomly or with a ping-pong action. A separate knob controls the number of steps in the sequence, and it always starts with the step in the 10 o’clock position. A Retrig CV input and button lets you restart from step 1, and a clock input lets you sync to an external clock source, rendering the Rate knob superfluous. It would have been nice if the Rate knob could have offered a clock division or multiply function when clocked. There are three modes of sequencing. Classic Mode is what we expect an eight-step sequencer to be, Tune Mode halts the cycle and lets you play the steps from the buttons like it’s a keyboard, and Pulse Mode is the only time things can get a bit ham-fisted. In Pulse Mode, you can set up note repeats for each step. To do this, you have to first

of all be in Tune Mode; then you select a step, hold the Retrig button and turn the Steps button to illuminate the circle of pulse buttons up to as many as you want the step to repeat (got that?). You can then double-tap a step to enable it for pulsed repeats or no-pulse repeats, which means the note is held for the same length without retriggering the pulse output. When you double‑tap a button, the Scale button responds by flashing very quickly for enable, and just a fraction longer for disable. Once you’ve added the repeats, you switch back to Pulse Mode, and the sequence runs with the repeats in play. It’s just a tiny bit too difficult to get right every time. The double‑tap is tricky to do, and you end up flicking back and forth, which can kill an otherwise suavely spontaneous sequencing experience. However, it is a useful feature, and it’s really nice to be able to swap between Classic and Pulse Modes on the fly for throwing in some natty pulse repeat variations. If you have some spare room, you can cosy up another Oct Tone to give you 16-steps. The steps run from one to another in a sort of misshapen circular motion. The combination also brings some additional functionality in the shape of transposition and the saving of sequences. I enjoy a good eight-step sequencer. There’s something about having eight notes in a cycle that hooks into the rhythms of our souls — well, mine anyway. The best ones tend to be easy, obvious, front-panel-led, playable and performable. The Oct Tone ticks all those boxes and has a visual flair that makes for a very happy sequencing experience. Despite the compact size and closeness of the knobs and buttons, I’ve found it a breeze to play with during a performance. It’s the most fun and fluid eight-step sequencer I’ve encountered to date, and the possibility of 16 steps definitely tempts me. Robin Vincent £ W

£260 www.glasgowsynthguild.com

www.soundonsound.com / September 2024

ON TE ST

Vienna Symphonic Library MIR Pro 3D & Vienna Power House

Screen 1: A 3D view of the author’s test project.

Immersive Audio Reverb Suite In a collaboration with tech pioneers GPU Audio, an add-on to this multi-impulse-response immersive-audio reverb promises to take the strain off your computer’s CPU! TREVOR MICHAEL

his latest update to VSL’s MIR Pro reverb brings the company’s lauded Multi Impulse Response convolution technology to the immersive audio environment, but the developers didn’t stop there. Also available, as a cost option, is Vienna Power House, an add-on that promises to farm up

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to 50% of the processing out to your computer’s graphics processor, courtesy of technology from a company called GPU Audio. Given the heavy demands that immersive audio projects can make of a computer’s CPU, that really is an interesting prospect, and in this review, I’ll cover both MIR Pro 3D itself, and this novel CPU-saving feature.

MIR Pro 3D Overview Unlike in most reverbs, MIR Pro 3D’s processing takes place in a standalone room-modelling app that runs alongside your DAW, but audio is routed to and from the app by instances of a plug-in that are inserted on your DAW tracks in the usual way. You have a choice of two versions. The full version is called Vienna MIR Pro 3D, but considerably cheaper is Vienna MIR Pro 3D (24), which offers all the same features but limits the number of instruments/audio signals that can be placed on the virtual sound stage to 24.

Licensing is through iLok, and you’ll need a macOS (10.14 and up) or Windows (latest 64-bit version of 10 or higher) DAW that hosts AU, VST, VST3 or AAX plug-ins, as well as a graphics card supporting OpenGL 4.0 with at least 512MB of VRAM (more is recommended). VSL offer various system spec recommendations on their website, which change according to the scale of project you plan to undertake, but I tested the software on a 2022 M2 MacBook Pro with 16GB RAM, running macOS 14.5. Upon opening the app, you’re prompted to select a ‘venue’ from one of the Room Packs that are installed. There are currently seven Room Packs available and you get one (of your choice) free with your purchase, but you can pay to add more and if you purchase more than one the most expensive of your selection comes free. Each Room Pack includes different rooms that the VSL team have captured meticulously and in incredible

detail, such that you can place a source in various positions in a room, and even define the direction in which it’s pointing; there’s more on that side of things below. Pack 1 is the famous Vienna Konzerthaus, and this includes 11,000 impulse responses captured in its four halls and foyer. Pack 2, Studios and Stage, has 24,000 impulse responses from Berlin’s Teldex recording hall, the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation building in Vienna, and two rooms from Austrian recording studio Weiler. Pack 3, Mystic Places, contains 4200 impulse responses captured in various Gothic churches. Pack 4, The Sage Gateshead, has 14,000 IRs from two large concert spaces in the North East of England. Pack 5 has 5000 IRs from the Pernegg Monastery in Austria. Pack 6 features 6000 IRs from VSL’s own 540 square‑metre Synchron Stage in Vienna, where many film scores by composers including Hans Zimmer, Rupert Gregson-Williams and Laura Karpman, to name just a few, have been recorded. Finally, Pack 7’s responses were captured in two prestigious venues in Salzburg, the Grosses Festspielhaus and Karl Bohm Hall. Venue selection is organised by venue type (concert halls, foyers and special places, mystic spaces or studios and sound stages), reverb time and location, so it’s pretty easy for you to find what you’re looking for even if you have several packs at your disposal. Multiple venues can be opened simultaneously and it’s easy to move instruments from venue to venue too, making it possible to audition different spaces quickly for creative reasons. Once you’re happy with your choice of venue, you insert an instance of the MIR Pro 3D

Screen 3: The default plan view shows the room layout, but you can also view the room in 3D (as in Screen 1), and in either view you can place both instruments and mics very precisely.

plug-in on any track in your DAW that you want to send to the virtual 3D space, and that signal will show up in the app, in the venue you’ve selected. You can insert the plug-in on a mono or stereo track, and open it out in the app into anything from stereo to 9.1.6, including first‑, second‑ and third-order Ambisonics.

The Plug-in In the MIR Pro 3D plug-in, simple controls let you to get things where you want them quickly. A meter display shows the level being sent to each output channel. The bypass, mute and solo options here are self-explanatory, but there’s also a hide function that makes an instrument (or group of instruments) invisible in the MIR Pro 3D app venue display — useful when you’ve got 20 or 30 different instruments on a stage and the GUI is starting to become cluttered. There’s a dry/wet ratio (mix) control, as well as an overall output level control and a polarity inversion switch for the wet signal. Bottom left of the plug-in pane is the room tone generator button, which plays background ambience for the selected venue. Simply throw up a spare track in your DAW, insert this and, hey presto, you get that little background hubbub ambience going on. This may strike you either as a gimmick or unnecessary attention to detail, but it’s actually very useful — often, when compiling live albums that play continuously from track Screen 2: Audio is routed to/from the main MIR Pro 3D app from a DAW plug-in, inserted in the usual way, and in this you have control over a number of basic functions, as well as instrument grouping.

to track, I’ve had to search for some ambience to play between some of the quieter moments because going down to ‘digital zero’ between tracks sounded wrong, and surprisingly disruptive. This feature, which VSL describe as a “natural dither”, overcomes that issue neatly. In the centre of the plug-in pane, at the bottom, you can assign each instrument to a group. When instruments are grouped together, changing one parameter adjusts that parameter for all instruments in the group. It’s not an all-or-nothing option, though, as you have control over which of the following parameters are linked: volume, rotation, width, dry/wet, position, bypass, hide, mute and solo. So, for a standard string section, you might group your violins together, and the same

VSL MIR Pro 3D & Vienna Power House pros • Great sound. • Good range of spaces to choose from. • So much control over instrument and mic placement. • Good integration with your DAW. • MIRacle is a nice bonus. • Optional GPU power could be very useful.

cons • GPU power is a cost option.

summary A stunningly good reverb that takes us well beyond the realms of conventional convolution. The integration of GPU Audio’s technology to move convolution processing to your computer’s GPU could be a real boon for immersive audio professionals.

www.soundonsound.com / September 2024

INSIDE TRACK

Taking the decision to follow his instincts has elevated Julian Bunetta to the top rank of contemporary songwriters and producers. PAUL TINGEN

Julian Bunetta

“F

or a lot of my career, I tended to follow the rules of what you should and shouldn’t do. You set up your busses this way, you find one reverb space, you never have too much on the master bus, and so on. But at a certain point, I threw that rulebook out. Now I’m just splatter‑painting on the canvas. I’m not comparing myself to Picasso, but if I want to, I put the nose on the forehead, because it’s fun. I’m constantly trying to experiment and trying new things. I like to mess stuff up and see what happens and stumble on happy accidents. The only way you can do that is by trying something you haven’t tried before.” A few years ago, Julian Bunetta also decided throw out the rule book with his career. This led directly to him having writing, engineering, multiple instrument, mixing and production credits on one of last year’s biggest hits, Teddy Swims’ ‘Lose Control’, and now on Sabrina Carpenter’s huge hit ‘Espresso’.

Stop Chasing The moment that divided his career into a before and an after phase came in 2019. “I’d had a lot of success working with One Direction from 2012 to 2015, and then global hits with Niall Horan and Rudimental. In 2018, I moved from Calabasas near Los Angeles to Nashville, and had three or four number ones with Thomas Rhett and country. Then, in 2019, when my daughter was born, I had to figure out again how to work. I used to be in the studio until 3am, and all of a sudden it was clear I couldn’t do that if I wanted to spend time with my family. And then, obviously, the pandemic hit. “I didn’t do much Zoom writing, it just isn’t for me. Instead I went back and learned my favourite old songs on the piano, by Babyface, Diane Warren, and so on. I dug into synthesis and how to actually work these plug-ins that I have. I’m not a gearhead, and I normally just turn some knobs, and either I get a cool sound or I hit the next patch. I wanted

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to go back to the fundamentals of what I was doing, and why. I wanted to reframe how I worked, and also who I worked with. “I didn’t want to chase things as much any more. In the songwriting community in LA, you’re working with a different artist every day or every two days, because the more people you work with, the more of your songs are cut. But that never worked for me. When someone’s really, really famous, you don’t get as much time in the studio with them. I decided I wanted to do less speed dating, less writing with different people every day. I had done that since I was 19. “Instead, there was just a slowing down. I wanted to work with friends that I trusted and loved. The thing that I love the most is sitting in a studio with them and hashing out lyrics and hashing out a production and musing over what we should do on the next song. All my success came from working with people I spent a lot of time with, where I really understood who they are, and got their vision. I wanted to work more with new artists, because I found that some of my most enjoyable times were when creating music with artists who were game to do anything, who want to try new stuff, who are hungry.”

A Family Affair As the sons of well-known drummer and producer Peter Bunetta, known for his work with the Temptations, Donna Summer, and many other legends, Bunetta junior and his brother Damon grew up among the stars. The brothers and their father later founded a publishing business called Big Family (now under the umbrella of Hipgnosis Songs), which continues to provide the framework for Julian’s career. “My mission statement during the pandemic became: ‘Who do I really want to work with?’ I said to Damon, who is my manager, that I wanted to work with people who are interested in working with me, because of the way I like to work. So we set out on a journey to find new people to work with, and help them with their creative process. We found a few artists that I really enjoy working with, and I decided to dedicate all my abilities and focus on them, and not

I later played on guitar in my studio in Los Angeles, and we ended up chopping it to half the length. “Teddy co-wrote the song, but by the time it came to recording his vocal part, he had lost his voice. So someone else sang the demo. The demo was bare bones, and when I came home, I started producing it up. When Teddy came to my studio in Los Angeles to lay down his vocals, he did a lot of takes to get it right, because he had to adapt to the new production, and make the song his own. He had to unlearn what the other singer had done and get that out of his head. He’d sing it again, and a nuance would happen and I would be like, ‘Oh, that was cool, that was yours. Let’s do it again and build on that.’ We tried out many different things, and the magic started to happen.”

On Song

Julian Bunetta has been playing drums since he was a child and frequently plays on records he produces.

spread myself thin any more. “Teddy Swims was one of the up-and-coming artists we found. I started working with Teddy in 2020. ‘Lose Control’ was written at a songwriting camp in Palm Springs. I love songwriting camps. There are no interruptions, no meetings, no lunch appointments, no family obligations. We do a lot of these camps, and we go somewhere remote with a selective crew of people. We just write and we write, and don’t worry too much.” ‘Lose Control’ bears writing credits for Swims, Joshua Coleman (aka Ammo), Marco Rodriguez-Diaz Jr (Infamous), John Sudduth (Mikki Ekko) and Julian Bunetta, with the latter and Ammo co-producing. “That song was based on a rough demo by Ammo. Infamous and he developed it into the three-time musical bed. The demo was just an MP3 that I dragged into Logic and recorded over. Later, when I got home, I got the stems from him, and then I added more things to the arrangement. The guitar solo was a mouth solo by Ammo that

Bunetta’s credits on ‘Lose Control’ also include drums, bass, guitar, keyboards and vocal production. While some of the instrumental parts are programmed, and Bunetta is comfortable with the modern in-the-box, click-in-the-notes approach, he likes to play actual instruments. “Because my dad was a drummer and producer, I went to the studio after school, and grew up there. I’d do my homework and witnessed session after session, with camaraderie and laughter. It was an environment that I gravitated towards and loved. It was my secret place that no‑one else knew. It was a sacred space. There was always a drum set in the house, and I simply knew how I’d play drums when I was old enough. I never learned. My dad fostered all my musical inclinations, and I played in jazz bands and orchestras and Summer bands and so on. “When I was in high school, in ’97-’98, I was doing demos for songwriters in LA that were my dad’s peer group, people like Tom Snow, Cynthia Weil and Andy Goldmark, who had had hits in the ’70s and ’80s, and were looking for someone to update their production. They were recording just piano/vocal to cassette tapes. That obviously wasn’t going to cut it, so I would produce these songs in Logic, and initially I’d hire a background singer or a guitar player, but then I’d play things myself. If you’re given $350

www.soundonsound.com / September 2024

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Grace Design Rex & Roxi Microphone Preamps

These classy preamps combine exemplary technical performance with some unusual stompbox‑friendly features. NEIL ROGERS

race Design are a long-established pro audio company known for their high-end preamps and monitor controllers, and their products are typically targeted very much at the professional studio. The products we have for review here reveal a more playful side, combining a miniature studio channel strip with features and functionality more commonly seen on a guitarist’s pedalboard. Grace describe the Rex and Roxi as the ‘ultimate solutions’ for performers who like to control their own mic output on stage while adding effects using guitar-style pedals. Such users can benefit as much as studio engineers from a high-end preamp and a quality EQ to shape their sound. In further evidence that these products may have been conceived on ‘dress down Friday’ in the Grace office, practical examples given in the product literature include horn players, harmonica shredders or one-mic bluegrass bands who like to play with their own effects on stage. I think it’s fair to say that these are rather niche applications, though, so I was intrigued

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to explore what these unusual products could offer in a more general-purpose studio context.

Roxi Music The Rex is the little brother of the Roxi, and has a slimmed-down set of features and a correspondingly lighter price tag. I’ll talk you through the larger Roxi first before explaining what the Rex has and doesn’t have in comparison. The first thing that stuck me when getting my hands on the full-featured Roxi was just how solid it felt — with its metal casing and ‘roll bars’ it has very much been designed to withstand the demands of the most chaotic of stages. At its heart, this product is a professionally specified mic preamp, and features a full-fat implementation of one of Grace’s highly respected circuits. It allows for XLR mic or instrument jack input, with 48V available on the mic input courtesy of a small push switch on the back of the unit. There’s 60dB of gain available for mics and 40dB when used with a jack input, with an additional 10dB available from a variable Boost circuit that can be controlled by one of the stompbox-style footswitches.

Output-wise, we have a balanced XLR output as well as a jack output. These can operate simultaneously, and the jack output has an independent level control labelled Amp. We also have an output for a tuner, as well as jack inputs and outputs for a dedicated effects loop, which can be used in parallel thanks to the onboard dry/wet control. Alongside this creative functionality, the EQ section on the Roxi is impressive for such a small device, featuring low and high shelving filters alongside a sweepable midrange that can cut or boost from 175Hz up to 4kHz, by up to 10dB. These are the main controls covered but there’s also an additional DIP switch section on the side of the unit, which offers options for engaging a high-pass filter (at either 75Hz or 150Hz) as well as switching the output of the device between line and mic levels. If that’s not enough, there’s also the option of switching the second footswitch to act as either a boost control or for inserting the effects loop into your chain. Power is supplied either from a standard IEC mains socket or a 9V power supply of the kind more commonly seen on pedalboards.

Rex Appeal The Rex is much smaller than its counterpart but still packs in most of the key features, just with fewer options. The unit can only be powered by a 9V DC power supply, but features the same preamp with the same 10dB boost feature. We also have the effects loop input and output connection, but without the parallel blend control and the footswitch-controlled insert option. It’s the same deal with the additional amp output, in that you still have the option, just without the separate level control. EQ‑wise there’s a fixed 75Hz high-pass option as

well as the high and low shelving filters, but there’s no mid band as found on the bigger model. It’s not all ‘less’ with the smaller option though: many users, like myself, will prefer having the controls for 48V phantom power, ground lifting and the high‑pass filter available on the main body of the device, rather than having to reach around the back or engage a DIP switch.

In The Studio I’m predominately a studio engineer, so I was keen to see what these clever boxes could offer me when recording musicians and singers in a studio setting. However, as I had both models for review, I thought I would lend the Rex to a friend who performs live with acoustic instruments using pedal effects on stage, and then collect their thoughts here. Starting with my own experiences, the thing that struck me first was the quality of the preamp. I’ve used Grace preamps before but I was still taken with how ‘clean’ and vivid my old Neumann U87 sounded on a vocal session. It was a similar story with my Shure SM7 dynamic mic — which needs a lot of gain — in that it seemed to bring the very best out of what can be a fussy mic, without needing a Cloudlifter or other boosting device. The EQ section has more than enough options for tracking sessions, and the low‑ and high‑pass filters worked superbly for adding a touch of weight and fullness or ‘opening up’ the top end. Being able to then also target specific ranges with the mid band seemed like a real bonus. Putting the extra features to use, I began by connecting my RE‑201 Space Echo to the effects loop, and it was great being able to blend just the desired amount of echo effect using the parallel wet/dry control. I could also choose to send the output of the effects loop to my patchbay, so any effects used could be printed on a separate track, and also sent to a singer’s headphones mix, for example. I found myself continually surprised by how useful these boxes were in my studio. On one session, in particular,

I had both out for tracking a jazz outfit in a live studio session. The double bass player had a fixed pickup in place on his instrument, and using the jack input on the Roxi, I was able to connect his output effortlessly into my setup knowing I had a good preamp taking care of things at source. I also added a touch of EQ, and the performer took advantage of the amp output to feed a tuner. It all worked superbly. In the same session, the trumpet player was keen to hear effects in his cans to get the right feel, so I used the Rex as the preamp for his mic whilst using the effects loop to add some spring reverb to the headphone mix. Again, it all worked perfectly and added both quality and convenience to a busy session.

On The Stage My friend Rachel from the band Fuzzy Lights was very happy to try out the Rex. She plays violin in the band, using guitar pedals through a less-than-ideal setup where various pedals are daisy-chained into a guitar amp to get sufficient gain. With its wet/dry blend control, the Roxi would really have been perfect for her live setup, but she was still able to plug her violin’s pickup into the Rex’s XLR input and then have her guitar delay pedal connected to the effects loop, with blending taken care of on the delay itself. She was then able to send the signal on to her on-stage guitar amp using the Amp output, for the distorted amp sound she likes when playing live. Suitably enthused, Rachel popped into the studio to try out the Roxi, and the sonic improvement compared to her current setup was not subtle; the preamp seemed to bring out much more body from her violin, and the ability to smooth out some harshness with the EQ worked a treat. To quote Rachel herself: “It’s like someone has designed the perfect product for my live setup!”

Final Thoughts For live musicians who want to have more control over their sonic output on

Grace Design Rex & Roxi £609/£921 pros • Great-sounding preamps packaged for stage settings. • Simple, good-sounding EQ. • Well-thought-out routing options. • Built like a tank. • Also great as a flexible studio tool.

cons • Quality comes at a price. • XLR-only input on the Rex will limit its use for some.

summary Grace Design have taken a bold move by releasing unique pedalboard‑style channel strips that pack in a huge amount of flexibility for live performers, home recordists and small studio owners. These are well worth checking out.

stage, both the Rex and Roxi will have a great deal to offer. It almost feels as if someone in the Grace team who plays live with a mic and pedals has coaxed the rest of the company into designing a product for their live setup! So much of performing live is about reliability and trust in your gear, and these tools from Grace remove the need for ad hoc setups that can be prone to issues with power supplies and impedance matching. In this regard, these are brilliantly designed products, and it’s obvious that a great deal of care has been taken to think of what might be needed in different settings. If this sounds like you and you have the budget you should seriously consider getting one of these options: the Roxi would be great, but if you can only stretch to the Rex, the only thing you should perhaps think about is how you would manage only having an XLR input. For a studio owner like myself, I was surprised at just how useful these boxes were: using one as an extra little channel strip on one project but then employing the same device to solve an issue on a live tracking session was just great. One of these would be brilliant if you run a small mobile recording setup or are a self-recording musician who is looking to take a jump in quality. £ Rex £609.19, Roxi £921.97. Prices include VAT.

Aside from their form factor, what sets these mic preamps apart is the presence of a stompbox-friendly effects loop.

T ASAP Europe +44 (0)208 672 6618 E sales@asapeurope.com W www.asapeurope.com W www.gracedesign.com

www.soundonsound.com / September 2024

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Dirtywave M8 Model:02 Portable Hardware Tracker

This powerhouse portable tracker might be your new best M8. RORY DOW

ortable tracking is a booming, albeit niche, industry. Dirtywave, the Los Angeles-based company behind the small but impressively powerful M8 tracker, have been quietly building a loyal following of M8 fans for about two and a half years. During that time, the M8 received many software updates, and despite having only one developer, it is currently on operating system version 3.3. And with a new Model:02 revision, it’s better than ever. Timothy Lamb, the man behind Dirtywave, is a well-known figure in the tracking and chip-tune music scenes. Before moving into hardware production, he wrote a software tracker called Little Sound DJ, which ran on the Game Boy platform. It proved highly popular and serves as the basis for the M8 today. So, despite Dirtywave being a new name in town, the M8 software is mature and well-developed. The new Model:02 version improves on the first edition with a new aluminium enclosure, larger 3.5-inch display (from the original 2.8), improved battery life (up to 12

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hours), a built-in microphone, and USB‑C instead of micro-USB. In all other aspects, the Model:01 and Model:02 are identical.

Yes M8 The M8 is surprisingly sleek and compact, measuring 96 x 133 x 20mm. It fits nicely in the palm and is operated like a smartphone — with two thumbs. The 3.5-inch IPS touch display is small but incredibly sharp. Data input happens through the eight mechanical key switches and, occasionally, the touch screen. I love the mechanical keys. They give the unit a classy feel. Stereo audio inputs and outputs, plus MIDI in and out, are on 3.5mm TRS jacks and sensibly placed at the top of the unit. At a push, you can use the onboard speakers instead of the line output (which doubles as a headphone output), but they are tiny, so keep your expectations low. On the sides are a recessed on/off button and a slot for a microSD card. The battery provides about 12 hours of use. It charges through a USB-C port, which also functions as a stereo‑in/

out 16-bit/44.1kHz USB audio and MIDI class-compliant interface. Samples and songs are stored on the SDHC microSD card. The M8 can stream samples directly from the SD card, there’s no limit on sample size, and loading and saving songs is almost instantaneous. In many respects, the M8 is a classic tracker. Eight tracks of sample sequencing are arranged in rows of hexadecimal notes and ‘FX’ (more on these later). But the M8 has many features that take it beyond what you might find in a traditional tracker. Virtual synthesizers cover a range of synthesis types, including classic console chip emulation, FM, physical modelling and virtual analogue, and there are effects (reverb, delay and chorus), modulation, tables (a sort of pattern within a pattern), stem rendering, groove templates and scale quantising.

You Wot, M8? Trackers approach sequencing a bit differently from piano‑roll-based DAWs and sequencers. Tracks are organised into rows, and notes flow from top to bottom. Each of the M8’s eight tracks can play one of 255 Chains. A Chain is a playlist of up to 16 smaller patterns called Phrases. Each Phrase can contain up to 16 steps. So, at the most, you’re working in 16‑bar chunks. Each

step within a Phrase can play a different note on any instrument and apply up to three FX, which are instructions to transform the note somehow. The eight tracks are monophonic. This standard limitation of trackers was originally there to keep CPU usage in check, and it has its downsides. You can’t sequence chords or polyphonic phrases without using multiple tracks, although the M8 does have some workarounds, which we’ll come to. However, the monophonic tracks have some creative benefits too, making them ideal for sample slicing, bass lines and leads. The ability to address a different sound on each step of a Phrase is also one of those features that, once you click with the tracker workflow, is sorely missed when moving back to more traditional sequencers. These inherent trackerisms helped shape music genres like chip-tune, jungle, and IDM back in the 1990s.

School M8 Using the M8 requires a certain amount of muscle memory. Almost everything is done with the eight mechanical keys on the front panel. There are up/down/left/right keys for navigation, a Shift key, an Option key, an Edit key and a Play button. With just these, one can navigate pages, make selections, edit values, copy, paste, etc. Some time spent learning shortcuts is necessary to become proficient, but once the muscle memory kicks in, it’s a surprisingly fast workflow. The navigation of the M8’s pages is very logical. When you start a new song or load an existing one, you’ll begin at the Song page. If you press Shift and Up, you’ll move to other Song-related pages. Pressing Shift and Right will drill down into more detail, first editing the currently selected Chain, then with another press, the Phrase chosen within that Chain. A further right move will edit the Instrument assigned to whatever step you had selected in the Phrase. No matter which page you’re on, if you navigate up, you’ll get to pages relevant to the section you’re in, and if you navigate down, you’ll get to the Mixer and Effects pages. You can always see a small map showing you where you are in the system, although after a few days of regular use, you stop needing it. It’s an intuitive and fast way to move around the current project.

An M8 Song is composed of up to 256 rows. In each row, you can select one of 256 Chains to play for each of the eight tracks. To reiterate, a Chain is a playlist of up to 16 different Phrases, and a Phrase, in turn, is a pattern of up to 16 steps. Instruments are the core of the M8, and you can have up to 128 Instruments defined per project. If you’ve used a tracker before, you’ll know that samples are the bread and butter of tracker music, so of course, the M8 has a powerful sampler on board. The sampler reads and writes directly to the SD card, so there is no limit on sample length. Each sampler Instrument can load or record a single sample from either the line inputs, USB inputs, or the built-in microphone. From there you can transpose, edit the start and end points, loop with different loop types, and assign up to 128 slices. Some offline edit operations are available, like normalising, cropping, fading in or out, downsampling and auto-slicing. Every Instrument also has access to a multi-mode resonant filter, sample rate reduction, and a selection of waveshapers like soft-clipping, pre- and post-filter hard-clipping, swap, fold and sine functions. There are certainly plenty of options for pummelling your instruments into submission. Lastly, you can set the send amount to the reverb, delay and chorus effects. Unlike many trackers, the M8 doesn’t stop at sample playback. There are four synths to choose from: Wavsynth, Macrosynth, FM Synth and Hypersynth. Wavsynth is an 8-bit wavetable synth with options to multiply, skew, warp and mirror the waveforms. It’s perfect for chip-tune sounds.

Dirtywave M8 Model:02 £613 pros • Classic tracker mixed with modern features in a handheld package. • Lightweight yet robust build using quality materials. • Muscle-memory workflow that is fast and mostly intuitive. • Surprisingly deep synthesis and sequencing. • Surprisingly good sound quality.

cons • Tumbleweed...

summary The M8 is an impressive little portable tracker that feels great to use, has a fast workflow, and sounds far better than it has any right to. It’s one of those products built by one person, and his passion and expertise show.

Macrosynth offers 44 different synthesis algorithms based on the Creative Commons‑licensed Braids instruments created by Mutable Instruments. Synthesis methods include classic analogue, ring modulation, unison, hard-sync, vowel synthesis, FM, physical modelling, drum synthesis and more. Each model only offers a couple of editable parameters, but they cover a lot of sonic territory. Plus, you still get the filter, waveshaping, and modulation options common to every instrument. FM Synth is a classic 4-operator FM synth with 12 algorithms, feedback per operator and different waveforms for each operator. It nails those early Yamaha FM-type sounds and is probably my favourite M8 synth. Hypersynth aims to help with one of M8’s limitations: the lack of polyphony I mentioned before. Hypersynth has six sawtooth oscillators, which can be arranged as 16 user-definable chords. When sequencing Hypersynth, you can select different chord numbers and each chord is transposed by the note number.

Back, or rather top, panel connections include 3.5mm sockets for MIDI and audio I/O, and a USB‑C port.

www.soundonsound.com / September 2024

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Orchestral Tools Benjamin Wallfisch Strings

Sample Libraries

The Berlin samplemeisters link up with a Hollywood film composer to create two major string collections. DAV E ST E WA RT

peaking in a video in November 2023, film composer Benjamin Wallfisch cheerfully observed: “I spend way too much of my time sitting here playing string orchestra samples. [Join the club, Ben.] We’re very lucky to have amazing libraries now of gorgeously recorded string orchestras from around the world, but I’ve always been slightly underwhelmed at the final result. Of all the sections of the orchestra, the strings have the biggest gap between what we’re able to do using samples and the finished final performance if we’re lucky enough to record with a live orchestra. And for years I’ve been thinking, why is that?” Why indeed? Within weeks the question was addressed when Orchestral Tools announced the release of two standalone string collections, Benjamin Wallfisch

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Strings (cinematic ensembles and divisi) and Stringscapes (orchestral string effects and textures). Created in close collaboration with the Hollywood composer and billed as OT’s largest sampling project to date, the project aims to give users (in Wallfisch’s words), “something that gets as close as possible to having a scoring session on your keyboard”. The libraries feature identical line-ups of 14 first violins, 12 second violins (different players), 10 violas, 10 cellos and six double basses recorded on the main scoring stage at Berlin’s Teldex Studios. They are not small: Benjamin Wallfisch Strings (BWS for short) weighs in at a hard-drive challenging 501GB and Stringscapes eats up 129GB. Happily, you don’t have to download all of their numerous mic positions in one go; you can also hedge your bets by buying individual BWS and Stringscapes instruments for as little as €65 and €42 respectively.

Benjamin Wallfisch Strings and Stringscapes run exclusively on the latest version of Orchestral Tools’ Sine player, which works standalone and as a VST, VST3, AU and AAX plug-in. You’ll need least 8GB of RAM, and as with all large orchestral libraries, the makers strongly recommend SSD storage for best performance results.

Breaking Convention It transpires that one of Mr Wallfisch’s complaints about today’s string libraries is the routine use of sample loops. While looped long notes can be sustained indefinitely, the composer feels that interrupting the players’ expressive performance mid-flow with a relatively short looped section has a de-humanising effect. Hence, BWS and Stringscapes are among the very few string libraries to offer loop-free sustains; instead, the players hold their long notes for 23-25 seconds, which should be enough for most musical situations.

BWS’s other deviations from the norm include true divisi sections, separate patches for upbows and downbows and five dynamic layers for all straight bowed artics and legatos. Another distinctive feature is a huge Atmos-ready microphone setup comprising Decca Tree L‑R, Decca Tree centre, close, wide, A‑B (an alternative wide position), outrigger, surround, immersive front and immersive mid mic positions. Each of these has a raw and processed version, the latter featuring Ben Wallfisch’s dedicated EQ and processing effects. Designed to give you “the Hollywood sound right out of the box”, these positions include an LFE mix for the basses. Obviously having 18 versions of every sample hugely inflates the size of these libraries, but you can easily get by with just two or three positions: a mix of the default Decca Tree and close mics sound great, and if you want more room ambience you can add the distant outrigger or surround position. Personally I liked the subtle brightening effect of the processed versions, so they would be my starting point with these strings. If your project involves a large number of mic positions, you can use the Sine player’s mic merge feature to bounce them down into a single stereo mix.

BWS Overview Orchestral Tools’ long history of recording string orchestras at Teldex Studios has reached a zenith in BFS, one of the most sonically impressive string orchestras I’ve heard in recent years. The cello long notes are a thing of beauty: their hushed, breathy quiet deliveries, rich and vibrant mp range and majestic loud performances show off the library’s dynamics to great effect, and their generous C1-G5 span means you can use them as a sketching tool. Having used the cello sustains to create a chordal passage, I doubled the chords’ root notes with basses in the lower octave and was knocked out by their tremendous low‑end presence — instant orchestral grandeur and gravitas. Another standout feature is the beautiful transparency of the high strings’ upper register. It’s unusual to find violins sampled beyond a top note of C7 (three octaves above Middle C) — these players go up to E7, maintaining pristine tone and perfect tuning all the way. Consequently, chords and melody lines sound fabulous across the violins’ entire register, with no weak spots. BWS lacks the vibrato control of other OT string libraries: rather than providing an on-screen slider to switch between vibrato

The Sine player’s Benjamin Wallfisch Strings GUI, showing three of the available mic positions.

styles, it follows the example of Pēteris Vasks Strings by linking vibrato intensity to dynamics. The quieter layers use a light, restrained vibrato which becomes more pronounced in the mp dynamic and reaches full force in the loud deliveries, enabling you to program dramatic volume swells accompanied by emotive vibrato surges. This effect works particularly well with the violas, who step up with some impassioned loud sustains. So, do upbow/downbow variants and unlooped sustains make a difference? I’d say definitely yes. To my ears, keyswitching between the two bowing styles at strategic moments sounds more natural and realistic than sticking with one or the other, and I felt that the somewhat gentler upbows are a better starting point for quiet romantic music. The loop-free samples are a revelation: each note in a chord develops naturally at its own pace without a loop butting in, resulting in a notably more organic sustained timbre.

BWS Tutti & Divisi Each of BWS’s five string sections was recorded with its full complement of players (referred to as the ‘tutti’ sections), then twice more with each section split into two half-size groups called Divisi A and Divisi B. Rather than dividing ‘at the desk’ in traditional style, the violins and cellos were split into front and back groups while the violas and basses divided left and right — this maintained a distinct physical separation between the divisi groups (good for panoramic mixes) while

enabling players to stay attuned to their desk partner’s performances (good for musical cohesion and intonation). The advantages of divisi writing are well documented: you can boost orchestral realism by distributing the notes of a chord across separate divisi sections (thus adding voices without increasing the virtual player count), split cello parts

Orchestral Tools Benjamin Wallfisch Strings €958 pros • Both libraries sound fantastic and benefit from five dynamic layers, long unlooped sustains and admirable performance precision. • BWS features half-size divisi sections and separate upbows and downbows. • Soundscapes’ generous menu of played string effects and textures contains some startlingly original material.

cons • BWS is expensive.

summary This collaboration with an award-winning UK composer represents the acme of Orchestral Tools’ string sampling achievements to date. Performed by 52 players and recorded via an Atmos mic setup, the project comprises two collections: Benjamin Wallfisch Strings is a classic strings multisample library suitable for traditional, contemporary film and pop work, while Soundscapes’ imaginative effects and textures span an emotional range from beauty to horror. Taken together, the two are a knockout combination.

www.soundonsound.com / September 2024

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SPOTLIGHT

Kick Drum Microphones

We’re spoilt for choice when it comes to dedicated kick drum mics. We check out some of the best.

LUKE WOOD

ith a decent selection of general-purpose mics to hand you’ll be well equipped for just about any recording task, but there are some situations where a dedicated model can be a safer bet. For example, you’ll often see all sorts of mics used outside of a kick drum, but when it comes to placing something inside the shell, extreme SPLs and strong blasts of air mean that a little more care and attention is required. So, a dedicated kick-drum mic can be a worthwhile addition to your collection, and thankfully, there are plenty around! An added benefit of such designs is that their low-end response and overall voicing often means that they can deliver great results on sources such as bass amps and cabinets or large brass instruments.

AKG D112 MkII

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AKG D112 MkII

The latest version of AKG’s D112 retains all of the features that made the original so popular, but is far easier to position thanks to a new integrated flexible mount. A large diaphragm delivers a powerful low-end response, and a 4kHz presence boost helps to provide a punchy sound that’s capable of cutting through a busy mix with minimal EQ. An integrated hum-compensation coil keeps noise to a minimum, and it’s capable of withstanding SPLs over 160dB without distorting. £ £138 including VAT. W uk.akg.com/outlet/D112MkII.html

Audix D6 & F6

Housed in a one-piece machined aluminium body, the Audix D6 boasts a solid and compact design that’s both hard-wearing and manoeuvrable. It’s equipped with the company’s VLM diaphragm, which promises to deliver a natural, accurate sound and features a cardioid polar pattern Audix D6 to maximise isolation and avoid feedback. The Audix range also includes the F6, a lower-cost alternative that employs a hypercardioid capsule and has a slightly lower maximum

SPL figure of 140dB (compared to 144dB for the D6). £ D6 £199, F6 £119.

Prices include VAT. W www. soundonsound. com/reviews/ audix-dp7 W audixusa.com/ products/d6/ W audixusa.com/ products/f6/

Audix F6

Avantone Mondo

Avantone say that the latest version of their Mondo kick-drum mic boasts a focused voicing and fast response that will punch through even the busiest mix with little to no EQ, and it’ll stand up to high volumes thanks to an SPL handling of 145dB. An all-metal construction helps it to stand up to life on the road as well as in the studio, and a pair of machined inserts on the body help to keep it held firmly in place using the included shockmount. £ £125 including VAT.

W avantonepro.

com/en/ products/mondo

Avantone Mondo

Earthworks DM6

beyerdynamic TG D70

Built around a refined version of their renowned M88 capsule, beyerdynamic say that the TG D70 is a must-have for every drummer. A hypercardioid polar pattern provides excellent isolation and feedback resistance, while an elastic suspension system helps to prevent mechanical vibrations from reaching the capsule. Along with its clear, natural sound, the mic boasts a compact and hard-wearing design that makes it easy to position and ensures it’ll cope with serious gigging and session work. £ £198 including VAT. W beyerdynamic.de/tg-d70.html

DPA 4055

DPA mics are renowned for their clear and natural sound, and the 4055 is no exception. It offers a full-range frequency response with a 6dB boost at 10kHz, allowing users to craft the exact sound they want through a combination of positioning and EQ, and maintains a <1% THD figure at an SPL of 156dB. Its internal shockmount design helps to prevent vibrations reaching the capsule, and an asymmetrical body design makes it easy to position either in front of or inside a kick drum. £ £672 including VAT. W www.soundonsound.com/reviews/ dpa-4055

The latest addition to Earthworks’ drum range, the DM6, is a capacitor mic designed specifically for kick drum duties. It boasts a supercardioid polar pattern that remains consistent across the mic’s frequency range, and promises to deliver a great sound straight out of the box while still responding well to EQ where necessary. It comes fitted with a Triad‑Orbit M2‑R Ball Mount that makes it easy to adjust and fix its position, and is capable of standing up to SPLs of 150dB. £ £399 including VAT. W www.soundonsound. com/reviews/ earthworks-dm6 W earthworksaudio.com/ drum-microphones/ dm6-best-kick-drumbass-amp-microphone

Earthworks DM6

E‑V ND68

The E‑V ND68 is a supercardioid dynamic mic that promises excellent isolation from nearby instruments, with a voicing that aims to deliver a deep low end while extending high enough to capture a kick drum’s attack. Sturdy housing and a tight-mesh grille help it to stand up to hard use, and it’ll be more than comfortable being put to work up close thanks to an SPL handling of 144dB. £ £238.68 including VAT.

W products.

electrovoice. com/na/en/ nd68

W www.dpamicrophones.com/

instrument/4055-kick-drum-microphone

Heil Sound PR 48

Designed specifically for kick drums and low-frequency instruments, the Heil PR 48’s frequency response is said to enhance a drum’s low end while Heil Sound PR 48 preserving the midrange and high-frequency content that can be lost with other mics. An integrated adjustable mount means it can be fitted directly onto a stand, while its compact design makes it easy to position. £ £314.99 including VAT. W heilsound.com/product/pr48

Lewitt Audio DTP640 REX

Lewitt’s DTP640 REX is essentially two microphones in one, combining a dynamic capsule that focuses on the drum’s attack and a capacitor element that takes care of the low end. Three selectable voicing options provide some onboard tonal shaping, and independent outputs for each capsule allow users to mix their Lewitt Audio respective levels to DTP640 REX taste. Everything is housed in a solid die-cast body with a steel grille, and the mic will withstand SPLs of 150dB. £ £309 including VAT. W www.soundonsound.com/reviews/ lewitt-audio-dtp640-rex

DPA 4055 E‑V ND68

W www.lewitt-audio.com/microphones/ dtp-percussion/dtp-640-rex

www.soundonsound.com / September 2024

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SPOTLIGHT

KICK DRUM MICROPHONES

Milab BDM-01

As you’d expect from Milab, the BDM-01 boasts a no‑compromise design, and is built around their own hand‑crafted 21mm capacitor capsule. Its frequency response has been shaped to deliver a perfect kick-drum sound that combines low-end power with a detailed attack and high‑frequency reproduction. They’ve also optimised the dynamic range, sensitivity and internal Milab BDM-01 pop filter, which help the mic to handle SPLs up to 155dB. £ £898.80 including VAT. W www.soundonsound.com/reviews/ milab-bdm01

W www.milabmic.com/bdm-01

sE Electronics V Kick

sE’s V Kick is based on the same capsule technology used in their popular V7 and V7 X, and boasts a compact, solid housing that features a patented capsule suspension method. Four tonal options are on offer courtesy of a pair of Classic and Modern switches — the first alters the mic’s overall voicing and the second adjusts its high-frequency response — allowing it to cover everything from well-rounded sounds to more aggressive modern rock and metal tones. £ £177 including VAT. W seelectronics.com/products/v-kick

sE Electronics V Kick

Sennheiser E602-II

Developed alongside top producers, engineers and drummers, the Sontronics DM-1B is described as a must-have tool for anyone looking to capture a perfect drum sound on stage or in the studio. It’s an end-fire, large-diaphragm capacitor design that promises to excel at capturing the attack, resonance and energy of a kick drum, and with its -15dB pad engaged it’s capable of handling levels of Sontronics DM-1B up to 155dB. £ £369 including VAT. W www.soundonsound.com/reviews/

Shure Beta 52A

Telefunken M82

products/microphones/e-602-ii

Shure Beta 52A

September 2024 / www.soundonsound.com

sontronics-dm1b-dm1s-dm1t

W sontronics.com/products/

dm-1b-condenser-microphone

Telefunken M82

With a large-diaphragm dynamic capsule, Telefunken’s M82 promises to deliver impressive low-frequency definition, but with a response that extends high enough to maintain clarity at the high end. A pair of EQ switches provide a midrange cut and high-frequency boost that allow users to adjust the voicing to suit their source, and a maximum SPL of 146dB means that it can be used up close with even the most enthusiastic drummers.

Shure’s offering comes in the form of the Beta 52A, a supercardioid dynamic with a frequency response that has been tailored specifically for kick drums and bass instruments. A pneumatic shockmount system minimises the transmission of vibration and mechanical noise, while a hard-wearing body design and steel-mesh grille help to provide the long-term reliability Shure are renowned for.

£ £379 including VAT. W www.soundonsound.com/reviews/

£ £205 including VAT. W www.shure.com/en-GB/products/

W www.telefunken-elektroakustik.com/

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Sontronics DM-1B

With a solid and lightweight design, the Sennheiser E602 is equally at home on stage or in the studio. Although it’s a dynamic design, the mic uses a lightweight voice coil that helps to deliver a fast transient response, while generous low-frequency extension helps to capture the all-important low-end weight of a kick drum. Sennheiser E602-II It also offers good isolation from nearby instruments thanks to a cardioid pattern that remains consistent throughout its frequency range. £ £154.80 including VAT. W www.sennheiser.com/en-gb/catalog/

telefunken-m82

product/m82-kick

PUSH IT. V7 Push To Talk

MINIMAL SYNTH SETUPS DAV E G A L E

o you ever yearn for a simpler existence? A move to the country, or maybe a television that offers fewer channels? Putting the latter point to one side, there is a reason why so many creative types opt to shut themselves away in out-of-town studios or workspaces. It has everything to do with the way that individual creativity works, and removing distraction. I had a moment of revelation a few years ago while composing the music for a BBC TV documentary series. This was a time when samples, plug-ins and software instruments were changing our working practices, in the extreme. The director suggested that they wanted the score to sound more like the output of a teenager in a bedroom,

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with a guitar, a bunch of pedals and 9V batteries. This was the polar opposite of the clean signal ethos being promoted at that time. Not being a guitarist (I never understood why anyone would play an instrument that hurts your fingers!) I had to resort to playing around with a synth, pedals and those ubiquitous 9V batteries, but the general ethos remained. Hums and crackles infiltrated my production, and while I would have previously done my utmost to eliminate these annoying noises, they seemed to go down well in the edit suite. This learning process — which, to be fair, was generated by a non-musical TV director who yearned to play the guitar as a teenager — sparked a wider change to my working practice, which I still try to use as often as possible.

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A good synth-friend of mine (we’ve all got them) often recalls how he was far more creative when all he had was a four-track Portastudio and a Roland SH-101. There’s a lot of truth in that! Working with minimal equipment often forces you to be more creative, so I decided that it’s never too late to try. Before you ask, no, I didn’t buy a four-track Portastudio (despite them being back in fashion, thanks to artists such as Trent Reznor) but I did decide to produce a library album which was exclusively based around a Moog Voyager. It was nothing short of a revelation; challenge after challenge presented itself, but nothing seemed to stand between this fine, singular synthesizer and creativity. I purposely left the Voyager in an unprogrammed state, forcing me to create sounds as I needed them. Everything was

created from scratch, from the drums and hats, through to the multiple tracking of pad-like sounds, building chords from a monophonic source. It was some of the most fun I had had in years, and resulted in an album which you may well have heard on various sci-fi and tech-based TV shows, as is the library album way! If there were a moral to this synth tale, which is apologetically garnered with midlife reminiscence, it would be that honing your craft with less may create better musical outcomes. I continue to adopt a similar philosophy, by moving hardware around my studio on a project-by-project basis, in the synth equivalent of ‘I’m the King of the Castle.’ It really does help to maintain creativity and production motivation. I’ll sign off now, as I think my 9V batteries need replacing!

THE ICON OF ORGANS.

The electric organ, the rotary, the presets and the MIDI – all rolled into one amazing expansion for EZkeys 2. If you’re a demanding songwriter, player or audio professional, have a look and a listen to the Session Organ EKX on our site today.

SOUND ON SOUND [UK] September 2024