The NASCAR Studio
Mar 1, 2006 12:00 PM, George Petersen Editorial Director
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Free Live Webcast:
Understanding Bass Management
With Bob Hodas, November 20th
Brought to you by Ex'pression College for Digital Arts and Mix
Bob Hodas explores best practices for Bass Management in your studio, explaining how to set up a bass managed system, what features to look for in a Bass Management box and much more.
Read more and register here.
Check out our other webcasts here.
Mastering Stories
Our December issue will focus on mastering. We'd like to hear from mastering engineersÑtell us about your most interesting mastering project. E-mail us at mixeditorial@mixonline.com.
Remix Hotel News
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Avid Presents: Remix Hotel Los Angeles| Dec. 4-6, 2008 |
Hot off an incredibly successful event in Atlanta, Remix Hotel is gearing up for its final event in 2008: Remix Hotel Los Angeles. We're busy putting together a killer weekend of panels, production and more. Keep it tuned to remixhotel.com for registration and schedule details, and be sure to check out all of the amazing videos from Atlanta and New York! .
This Month in Mix
Not too long ago, “studio computer” simply referred to a CPU/monitor/keyboard setup either built into an SSL or used as an outboard automation controller. These days, the computer is more typically the center of the entire studio environment, handling all recording, mixing, editing, mastering and storage duties. In fact, at NAMM, we witnessed a single PC playing back 125 audio tracks — no small feat.
In many ways, the modern studio is like a high-performance race car, with the engine (computer) providing the power that gets everything else moving. And like a NASCAR racer, our high-octane DAWs start as stock machines, but most similarities end there. The race car is born from a new showroom model, but every one of the vehicle's systems (and subsystems) is examined and tweaked, honed, replaced or discarded in the quest for maximum speed and power. You won't find frills such as cruise control, emission controls, power windows (or any windows) on a pro racer.
In building the ultimate DAW, we may upgrade the drives, RAM, power supplies and motherboards, and add DSP cards, accelerators and external A/D/A converters — all of which increase performance — yet still be held back by the operating system itself. For example, Apple's G5 chip is fully capable of 64-bit operations, yet certain parts of OS X Tiger still run at 32-bit. And both Mac and Windows operating systems exhibit the symptoms of bloatware — lots of animations and other frills that may impress the casual user, but ultimately slow operations and eat up RAM and disk space. One clear indication of this is the hundreds of printer drivers, foreign languages, fonts and more in any system install.
Another issue? After upgrading the system or any software, you're invariably left with a slew of odd files with unfamiliar names/prefixes, and you're never really sure if they're necessary. The situation is even worse if your computer is also used for non-audio applications and/or serves as your Internet machine. One sure way to clean out all those superfluous files is to reformat your drive and run a clean re-install of your OS and all apps; if you back up your preferences/settings files beforehand, the procedure isn't so bad.
A longer-term answer to system bloatware? OS authors (meaning Apple and Microsoft) should offer more options for customizing system installs. In my studio, we have an audio-purposed computer that's never been connected to the Internet — or even a printer. Look, I'm over 21 and can take responsibility for my own actions, so if I would like to trade endless printer drivers, or the ability to display Cyrillic or Chinese characters, for the capability to run a couple more plug-ins, so be it.
Computers dedicated to a single task are common in industries from robotic assembly to chemical analysis, and most of these machines could surely benefit from a leaner, meaner, faster OS. If audio also benefits from such a windfall, I won't complain.
Modern Recording and Mixing
This 2-DVD set will show you how the best in the music industry set up a studio to make world-class records. Regardless of what gear you are using, the information you'll find here will allow you to take advantage of decades of expert knowledge. Order now $39.95
Mastering Cubase 4
Electronic Musician magazine and Thomson Course Technology PTR have joined forces again to create the second volume in their Personal Studio Series, Mastering Steinberg's Cubase(tm). Edited and produced by the staff of Electronic Musician, this special issue is not only a must-read for users of Cubase(tm) software, but it also delivers essential information for anyone recording/producing music in a personal-studio. Order now $12.95
Delivered straight to your inbox every other week, MixLine takes you straight into the studio, with new product announcements, industry news, upcoming events, recent recording/post projects and much more. 