July 1, 2011
Features
HangOut Festival 2011
Jul 1, 2011 9:00 AM, By Sarah Benzuly
The second annual HangOut Festival was held May 20-22, 2011, in Gulf Shores, Ala. Thousands flocked to the festival to hear such great performances as those from Paul Simon, the Foo Fighters, Widespread Panic, Rich Aucoin and so many more. Created by Concerts for the Coast, the festival is part of a larger plan to bring much-needed economic support to the Gulf area after the effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. …
Start At the Source | Miking Vocals Onstage
Jul 1, 2011 9:00 AM, By Eddie Mapp
Reproducing the human voice in a concert situation can range from extremely easy (throw up the fader and go) to quite complex, depending on a number of situations surrounding the vocal. Are you mixing a soft-spoken singer, an aggressive rock group with multiple lead vocalists, or a pop artist whose crowd comprises 20,000 young teenage girls screaming at SPL levels higher than anything you’d ever want to compete with mixing-wise? In all of these environments, getting the vocal out there and on top is key to your mix. …
Ribbons on the Road
Jul 1, 2011 9:00 AM, By Steve La Cerra
Ask an engineer if they’ve used a ribbon microphone in a live setting, and you’re likely to get a reaction that goes something like “Are you out of your mind? ! ?” Old school. “Too delicate!” Hogwash. “Figure-8 patterns are impossible to deal with on a stage with loud instruments!” Poppycock. “Phantom power will blow it up!” Um, maybe if your cables aren’t up to spec. It was only a matter of time until the studio ribbon revival that started in the late 1990s would reach the stage. But is it really possible to use ribbons on a tour? Can they survive? Is their meek output level a problem? Read on. …
Yamaha’s StageMix iPad App
Jul 1, 2011 9:00 AM, By Aaron Patkin
Yamaha’s StageMix is an Apple iPad app that allows live sound engineers remote control of a Yamaha M7CL Version 3 board’s mix functions via graphic interface from anywhere in a venue within a wireless range. To assist those new to using such apps for mixing or who want to dig deeper into what this app can do, Mix turned to Chicago-based audio engineer Aaron Patkin, who has used the StageMix on many shows—from live concerts to corporate events—at Viper Alley. …
Versatile Sound | New Line Arrays
Jul 1, 2011 9:00 AM, By Sarah Benzuly
Whether hanging from an arena, installed in a house of worship or on a stand for a local coffee-bar gig, P.A. systems are an essential element in any live performance. When looking to upgrade a system, safe and easy rigging, advanced digital control, amplifier integration and great sound are high on the features list—and manufacturers are responding in kind. Here, listed in alphabetical order, is what’s new in line array products for your listening pleasure. …
‘Rave On Buddy Holly’
Jul 1, 2011 9:00 AM, By Barbara Schultz
No one can say what styles of music rock ’n’ roll icon Buddy Holly might have recorded had he lived to see his 75th birthday this year. Would he have been into New York art-punk when Lou Reed and Patti Smith came along? The electronic blues of Florence and The Machine? The neo-soul of Cee Lo Green? No telling, but we do know that these artists and countless other have been inspired by all the music Holly put out before he died at age 22. …
‘Cars 2’
Jul 1, 2011 9:00 AM, By Blair Jackson
Rather than just being a formulaic re-tread (sorry) of the mega-successful 2006 Cars, Disney/Pixar’s Cars 2 ups the ante by being much more than a racing movie. …
Technology
Ask Eddie: It’s Clean-Up Time
Jul 1, 2011 9:00 AM, By Eddie Ciletti
I sometimes help people solve problems by remote control. When it’s stuff I don’t know intimately, my clients and I learn together. From there it seems a natural progression to bring this private interaction into the light of a public forum—my new blog at mixonline.com—the essence of which will be distilled into this new monthly column, “Ask Eddie.” …
Tech: New Products, July 2011
Jul 1, 2011 9:00 AM
Mix magazine July 2011 tools of the trade article features new pro audio products in July 2011 Mix magazine pro audio product section …
Steinberg Cubase 6 Review
Jul 1, 2011 9:00 AM, By Troy “atom” Frank
At first glance, Cubase 6 looks and feels different, but not too different. It has a more transparent, cleaner look, and you have additional options to customize the appearance of the controls and meters. That’s all for the good, but alone it’s not enough to ask users to upgrade. Today’s DAW owner wants more features, more power and more interoperability, and Cubase 6 delivers. …
Radial Engineering Workhorse 500 Review
Jul 1, 2011 9:00 AM, By Kevin Becka
Radial Engineering has a knack for creating practical, solidly built, problem-solving gear for stage and studio that are both innovative and fairly priced. The company’s DIs, reampers, splitters, switchers and acoustic stabilizers come in a variety of configurations that offer engineers plenty of creative options. In this lineage, the Workhorse 500 takes two simple ideas and marries them in a single unit. The Workhorse is an 8-channel mixer with panning, main, monitor and headphone outs, housed in an 8-slot, 500 Series rackmountable unit. …
ADAM A8X Powered Monitor Review
Jul 1, 2011 9:00 AM, By Bobby Frasier
ADAM speakers have been employed in pro audio applications for more than 10 years, having grown and evolved out of Dr. Oskar Heil’s highly original concepts—namely, the Air Motion Transformer, aka the ribbon tweeter. Since then, ADAM has become a pre-eminent supplier of this technology to the pro audio (and now home audio) world. I have been most-impressed with the higher-priced models, most significantly the now discontinued S3A and S2.5A. The A8X brings this technology into a more affordable arena. …
Softube TSAR-1 Review
Jul 1, 2011 9:00 AM, By Michael Cooper
TSAR is shorthand for True Stereo Algorithmic Reverb, but it might as well stand for “Tweak Simply And Relax.” The plug-in’s minimalist control set (only 11 controls) is so fast and easy to use that you won’t break a sweat getting terrific reverb sounds. TSAR-1 (Mac/Win) uses four audio engines that crossfeed stereo input signals between its left and right channels in a way that’s similar to how natural reverberation in an acoustic space propagates; mono and mono-to-stereo modes of operation are also supported. The plug-in supports AU, RTAS and VST formats, and sampling rates from 44.1 to 192 kHz. It requires an iLok. (A first-generation iLok will do.) …
Music
Music: Taking Back Sunday
Jul 1, 2011 9:00 AM, By Sarah Benzuly
Released in late June, Taking Back Sunday’s self-titled fifth studio album marks the return of the band’s original lineup from their 2002 debut, Tell All Your Friends. Vocalist Adam Lazzara, guitarist Eddie Reyes and drummer Mark O’Connell reunited with vocalist/guitarist John Nolan and bassist Shaun Cooper, who departed the band in 2003. And from the way Nolan recalls their reunion, it was all O’Connell’s idea. “As things were winding down for Taking Back Sunday and their last album cycle,” Nolan says, “he started talking to Eddie and Adam about this idea [of reuniting the band] and then got in contact with Sean and I. Everyone was pretty skeptical about it at first—of whether or not this was going to work—but everyone was open and we started reconnecting and talking again, and then little by little, it led to us getting back together again.” …
Garland Jeffreys ‘The King of In Between’
Jul 1, 2011 9:00 AM, By Matt Gallagher
On June 14, Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter Garland Jeffreys released the rock- and blues-oriented The King of In Between, his first album of entirely new work in 14 years. Jeffreys co-produced his latest project with guitarist Larry Campbell (Bob Dylan, Levon Helm) and brought in top musicians Steve Jordan (drums), Mike Merritt (bass), Duke Levine (guitar) and Brian Mitchell (keyboards). It also includes guest artists Lou Reed, Duncan Sheik and Jeffreys’ 14-year-old daughter, Savannah. Jeffreys and company recorded basic tracks at Brooklyn Recording, while overdubs took place in One East Recording in Manhattan. …
Music: Graham Wright’s Solo Offshoot
Jul 1, 2011 9:00 AM, By Sarah Benzuly
What started out as demos turned into a full-fledged solo album. Tokyo Police Club keyboardist Graham Wright has always had songs percolating in his brain—even before TPC was formed—and he finally got his chance. Working again with TPC engineers Jay Sadlow and Dean Marino, Wright snatched whatever free time he had (and cash, as he was self-funding this project) and headed into Chemical Sound (Toronto), Sadlow and Marino’s studio. “I basically started recording songs with Dean and Jay in the beginning of 2009, but I thought I was making demos,” Wright recalls. “I had written a bunch of songs and I wanted to do something with them. We recorded two songs each day, and when I sent [the demos] to my manager, he said, ‘They sound like you’re making proper recordings.’ So from them on, it became more [a full album].” …
Music: Disc Cutting at Grundman
Jul 1, 2011 9:00 AM, By Sarah Benzuly
Recording engineer Ryan Hewitt booked Bernie Grundman Mastering’s disc mastering studio for the vinyl release of Flogging Molly’s Speed of Darkness. Recorded at Echo Mountain Studios (Asheville, N.C.) and Sonic Ranch (El Paso, Texas), the album was digitally mastered at 96k/24-bit for vinyl by Dave Collins at Dave Collins Mastering and at 44.1k/16-bit for CD and online release. “We came to Bernie to cut the best lacquer we can for manufacturing,” says Hewitt. “The person who buys vinyl wants to hear the maximum fidelity.” …
Music: Count, DJ Shadow Back in the Groove
Jul 1, 2011 9:00 AM, By Sarah Benzuly
Grammy-nominated engineer/producer Count and DJ Shadow are back in the studio working on a new album, with Count at the helm in his space. “Adam [Savage] from MythBusters built these things on the side of my Aeron chair that allow me to navigate with my arms down by my side rather than having to reach forward,” Count says. …
Classic Tracks: The Edgar Winter Group’s “Frankenstein”
Jul 1, 2011 9:00 AM
Alhough multi-instrumentalist Edgar Winter originally had strong interests in science and engineering, the success of his blues-minded brother, Johnny Winter, changed that. At Johnny Winter’s behest, Edgar Winter played on his brother’s albums and performed in gigs in between sets at his brother’s shows. …
SFP
SFP: ‘Transformers: Dark of the Moon’
Jul 1, 2011 9:00 AM, By Matt Hurwitz
It’s early June, and the veteran re-recording mixer is fast at work at Sony Pictures Studios with his team completing Transformers: Dark of the Moon, the third episode of director Michael Bay’s successful visual effects-heavy feature film franchise based on the popular Hasbro toys….
IDEAS Orlando post production facility spotSFP: IDEAS Orlando
Jul 1, 2011 9:00 AM, By Tom Kenny
When you bill yourself as an “innovation studio,” part of a creative juggernaut of marketing and agency services—from story to shoot to edit to post to distribution—you need facilities and workflow that match the mission. After 20 years in south Orlando, IDEAS was in need of a new home, and in 2009, they found one downtown. …
SFP: New Rooms, 2011
Jul 1, 2011 9:00 AM, By Sarah Benzuly
Mix Spotlights New Sound for Picture Post Production Facilities in 2011…
Live
Lil Wayne Tour Profile
Jul 1, 2011 9:00 AM, By Sarah Benzuly
Rap shows seem to carry a preconception that they are loud, non-musical. But that couldn’t be farther from the truth for Lil Wayne. Blending his hip-hop vocal stylings with a rock-solid band, Lil Wayne’s performance is as tight and dynamic as his smash 2009 multi-Platinum Tha Carter IV. In fact, both front-of-house engineer Demetrius Moore and monitor engineer Sean Sturge stick to the album’s sound to guide them in creating their mixes. …
Avid, Midas on Bareilles Tour
Jul 1, 2011 9:00 AM, By Sarah Benzuly
Opening for country rockers Sugarland and getting in a couple of headliner shows herself, Sara Bareilles is out in full force this summer, as is an Avid/Midas custom package, thanks to sound company Spectrum Sound. When front-of-house engineer Trey Smith posed the question of achieving the Midas sound on an Avid interface, the sound provider headed straight to their techs to get the job done. …
FixIt: Neon Trees Monitor Engineer Mike Bangs
Jul 1, 2011 9:00 AM
We are sharing preamps between monitors and FOH and doing a digital split from the monitor console’s [Allen & Heath] iDR-32, so our FOH snake is just one Cat-5 cable. The second iDR-32 MixRack is currently being used for the FOH console’s DSP. That will change when we start headlining on our next tour. We will go with more stereo instruments for Neon Trees, and we will use the second iDR-32 to handle support band inputs without having to unpatch anything. Since the iDR-32 is basically the brains of the console, it’s all I need for a fly date. …
System Fit for a Prince
Jul 1, 2011 9:00 AM, By Sarah Benzuly
It was extremely difficult to get a ticket for Prince’s “Welcome 2 America” tour, what with announcing show dates just a few days before an actual gig. And that quick turnaround was also laid in the laps of sound reinforcement provider Rat Sound, or as sound company president Dave Rat says, “Rat got a call on the Thursday and by Sunday we had three semi-trucks of prepped gear headed to Oakland [Calif.] for a 2 a.m. load in.” Since the, the company has supplied the sound system for Prince, including his 21-night run at the Los Angeles Forum. …
Liquid Blue | Secure Sound From 75 Feet
Jul 1, 2011 9:00 AM, By Sarah Benzuly
When The Grovler, the technical director/guitarist for band Liquid Blue, needed a behind-the-scenes solution for live access to audio equipment in a back-stage rack from an onstage laptop, he opted for the Gefen USB 2 Extender. It comes with a sender (connected to the audio equipment) and a receiver connected to the stage laptop. One Cat-5 cable feeds the audio to the laptop, reaching distances up to 75 feet. …
All Access: Bruno Mars and Janelle Monae
Jul 1, 2011 9:00 AM, Photos and Text By Steve Jennings
Skyrocketing to the top of the charts, co-headliners Bruno Mars and Janelle Monae’s brought their crowd-pleasing blend of old-school R&B and hip-hop with their “Hooligans in Wonderland” tour. Mix caught up with the crew when they stopped by San Francisco’s Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in early June. …
Current
Jack Richardson, 1930-2011
Jul 1, 2011 9:00 AM, Compiled by Sarah Benzuly
Canadian producer Jack Richardson (the Guess Who, Alice Cooper, Bob Seger) passed away at London, Ontario’s University Hospital. He received 38 Gold and Platinum awards during his career, and is a former Fanshawe College instructor. His son, Garth Richardson—who works under the GGGarth moniker—has produced albums for Korn and Rage Against the Machine, among many others. …
Potential Solution for ‘Listener Fatigue’
Jul 1, 2011 9:00 AM, Compiled By Sarah Benzuly
At the 130th AES convention (London, May 14), in-ear technologist Stephen Ambrose, along with Robert Schulein and Samuel Gido, entered two papers and a presentation that described a potential solution to “listener fatigue,” the discomfort and pain experienced while using in-ear headphones, hearing aids and other devices that seal the ear canal from external sound. Under their Asius Technologies brand name, they described how sealing a speaker in the ear canal dramatically boosts sound pressures and how a modified ear-tip can help alleviate, or even eliminate, that effect. …
Wild Touch Productions | Give Your Videos a ‘Wild Touch’
Jul 1, 2011 9:00 AM, Compiled by Sarah Benzuly
Based in Los Angeles, Andrew Wild’s Wild Touch Productions can help companies and studios promote their business through the use of videos on their sites. In 2004, Wild began producing videos for Euphonix in both the U.S. and in Europe; his new business launched last year. Recent projects include videos for Avid and Solid State Logic. From informative product videos, to in-depth, hands-on demos for training users and for providing additional information to help the purchase decision, Wild Touch Productions delivers. …
SPARS SoundBite | Local Music Communities
Jul 1, 2011 9:00 AM, By Kirk Immamura, president/director
Welcome to the new SPARS column, where we will inform you of what we are doing to move the industry forward. Last month we spotlighted our new Board of Directors, including five newly elected pros representing Los Angeles, the Pacific Northwest and the Midwest. The geographic diversity is important, as one of the primary initiatives of SPARS in the coming years will be to bring national focus on each and every recording community….
Departments
Editor’s Note: You Can’t Beat Live
Jul 1, 2011 9:00 AM, By Tom Kenny, Editorial Director
Damn it’s fun to go out and see live music. Pick your act, pick your night. Pick your heroes, pick an unknown. I was lucky enough in early June to be in the Fox Oakland audience for one of only six Buffalo Springfield shows in California, leading up to their headlining gig at Bonnaroo. Stephen Stills can definitely still play that ol’ guitar, Richie Furay looked like the happiest kid at the dance and Neil Young—well, he is a bona fide rock star. The guitar chops, the voice, the humble swagger and punch of a man who has lived the life. The sweet purity of “I Am a Child,” followed by the heart and depth of “Mr. Soul” and the raucousness of “Rockin’ In the Free World.” You didn’t have to be over 40 to appreciate the sound. When it’s live, you don’t even have to like the genre (though I do). You can just tell when magic is happening. …
TechTalk: Connections
Jul 1, 2011 9:00 AM, By Kevin Becka
Modern culture is all about connections: social, wired and wireless. Social networking has changed the way we interact with our friends, family and even professionally, and it can evolve overnight. I’m currently looking at tumblr as a way to get product news and reviews out because of its hockey-stick growth, which is increasing by a quarter-billion impressions a week (not a typo). I’ve also been finding it easier to get questions answered about products, company news and technology through Facebook rather than email. For me, it’s just a “follow the river” experience; I’m just floating along, keeping my eyes and ears open. …
