Colorful things seem to happen on Fridays at FLUX.

A full house of producers, engineers, mixers, artists and – of course – mastering engineers kicked off their weekend with knowledge and networking at the always-buzzing East Village recording/mixing facility.

The center of attention was top NYC mastering engineer Dave Kutch of the Mastering Palace, who led a clinic presented by Dangerous Music, Manley, Focal Professional, and Alto NYC.

Kutch’s presentation in FLUX’s “Dangerous” live room captivated the crowd’s attention, as he shared the considerable wisdom he’s gained in mastering for the likes of Alicia Keys, John Legend, the Roots, Jennifer Hudson, Outkast, Natasha Bedingfield, and many more.

In addition to covering advanced mastering techniques such as mid-side processing and parallel processing, Kutch went over file labeling protocols, gave career/life advice (“Hang out with people smarter than yourself!”) and fielded some high-quality questions from the crowd.

In the meantime, demos of Dangerous, Focal, and Manley gear went down in the artfully appointed “Fabulous” suite. And as per FLUX’s most hospitable tradition, champagne and snacks fueled musical conversations before, during and after in the lounge and on the roof.

Check out Kutch’s essential segment on mid-side mastering techniques.

For dance music producer Matt Verzola, “Demystifying Mastering” was a highly informative experience. “I’m doing my own mastering on my dance tracks,” he noted, “so when this clinic came up I said, ‘I’d love to hear more about how the real pros do it.’ I really liked how open Dave was – he wasn’t keeping any secrets. He explained how he’ll use parallel compression for mastering, for instance, which I never thought to do.

“Dave offered up a lot of good resources to go to later, and the crowd was really good,” Verzola continues. “I think only people that understand what mastering is were there, so there weren’t any questions that weren’t great. It was a really good forum.”

Also in the audience was Heba Kadry, Mastering Engineer/Project Coordinator at The Lodge, who was more than happy to learn from one of their accomplished colleagues. “It’s terrific to have someone like Dave Kutch – with all his experience – demonstrate some material pre- and post-mastering, and illustrate the difference that mastering can make on your record,” she said. “He showed the progression of mastering over the years, and talked about the best way for mixers to approach their mixes with the mentality that the material will be mastered later on.

“Just beyond the geek talk, its great to get out of your studio bubble and see what other people are doing in a relaxing environment,” Kadry adds. “FLUX is a great studio. It’s really fun to talk to people and see what they’re doing.”

Now see more for yourself! (BTW, SonicScoop, FLUX, and our friends will be holding more audio-centric events throughout 2012 — if you want to be notified about future happenings, drop us a line at info@sonicscoop.com with the word “events” in the subject line. Thanks! See you soon.)

Dope On Arrival: Jason Finkel and Rick Kwan

Dave Kutch of the Mastering Palace led the clinic.

A masterful class was on hand in FLUX's "Dangerous" live room.

The mastering rack was packed with all things Dangerous and Manley.

(l-r) Producer/Engineer Andy Baldwin and Simon Cote of Focal Professional, with the Focal SM9 making its NYC debut.

Marek Stycos manned the demos in the "Fabulous" room.

Visitors could choose their audio weapon from this rigteous rack.

The amazing Neve 5465 54 16 channel console and Dangerous Monitor ST-SR in harmony, in "Fabulous".

Spatial relations: Focal defined the stereo image in each room.

After the clinic, Dave Kutch kept fielding questions.

(l-r) Simon Cote, Bob Muller of Dangerous Music, and Dave Kutch

Alto NYC was most assuredly, without a shadow of a smidgen of a hair of a fraction of a single solitary doubt -- in the house!!!

The phun starts to expand outward like the Virgo Supercluster!

(l-r) Heba Kadry and Matt Verzola

Looks like Jason and Rick made it safely upstairs. Good job guys!

STYLE...was in style.

(l-r) Andrew Sheron and dance music producer Izumi.

Trrriple trrrouble in the "Dangerous" control room!

Go Panthers! SUNY Purchase REPRESENT!!!!

(l-r) Andrew Maury and Michael Duncan. Their eyes don't usually glow demon-red, BTW. Just that particular night. At that particular moment.

Calm before the swarm: The inimitable FLUX roof awaits the after-party.

International winner of the 2012 "Flowers in a Hollowed-Out Rhodes" competition!

Kick it from all angles...

...then close out the night with tunes on top.

– Text by David Weiss, photos by Janice Brown and David Weiss

The newly erected Protector 2 from Blue Cat Audio.

Here’s what Blue Cat says about the latest version of Protector:

“This new version brings a brand new user interface with much more visual feedback (including RMS metering, attenuation history, loudness boost measurement, improved readability), as well as many new features and enhancements: a new presets manager, new MIDI and automation mapping capabilities, new presets, Windows AAX support, and much more (details below).

The plugin is available alone or as part of several bundles. New customers can purchase the single plug-in with 25% off ($74 after discount), or the ‘Blue Cat’s Energy Pack’ dynamics processing bundle with 15% off during three weeks ($390 after discount), while existing customers can upgrade to the new version for a small fee.

Demo versions can be downloaded on www.bluecataudio.com, in VST, RTAS, AAX, Audio Unit and DirectX formats (32 and 64-bit).

What’s new in Blue Cat’s Protector 2.0:

* Brand new fully customizable user interface.

* New gain reduction history display.

* New input and output RMS meters.

* The meters can now be zoomed to improve their precision.

* New average loudness boost meter.

* New DC Filter to kill DC offset.

* New integrated presets manager:

+ Load/save presets from the plug-in’s user interface.

+ Organize presets with folders.

+ Customize the default preset.

+ Exchange presets easily.

* Automation range and response curve can now be customized for each
parameter.

* Automation and MIDI settings (channel, MIDI learn etc.) are now accessible
from the main user interface.

* AAX plug-in format is now also supported on Windows.

* Improved the algorithms for increased precision of the limiter.

* Side chaining made easy: the MIDI and automation side chaining
capabilities can now be fully configured within the main user interface.

Improvements:

* Plug-in name has been shortened for a clearer display in mixer view for
most host applications.

* The plug-in now appears in the “Dynamics” category in Pro Tools.

* Changed the default VST install path on Windows.

* License is now shared between plug-ins type (register only once for all
formats).

* Added new presets.

* Improved value display in fine edit window.

* Optimizations and Performance Improvements:

* Reduced VST plug-in loading time.

* Improved parameters precision (now stored as 64-bit).

* More compact presets format (uses less space and loads faster).

* Smaller binaries on Mac (dropped PowerPC support).

Bug Fixes:

* Fixed presets-related crashes in Cubase on Mac.

* Fixed user interface display issues in Wavelab on Mac.

* Fixed MIDI output for 64-bit VST version.

System requirements:

- Intel Mac running Mac OS X Lion (10.7), Snow Leopard (10.6), or Leopard
(10.5).

- PC running Windows 7, Vista or XP.

The 4th Generation Whammy Pedal (MSRP: $299.95)

The Whammy is a classic pedal – enabling guitar and bass players to raise and lower their tuning by up to two octaves, to create pitch shifts from subtle to extreme and dramatic musical effects.

The new generation Whammy pedal now reportedly incorporates new pitch-shifting technologies that enable the player to bend entire chords up or down while keeping all the notes in the chord perfectly in tune. The Whammy also keeps its signature Classic single-note mode, along with nine Harmony 2-note interval settings and two Detune modes.

Offering true bypass means that the signal from the guitar is completely unaffected by the Whammy when it’s switched off, maintaining all the purity of the guitar signal when the player doesn’t want anything altering his or her sound.

The Whammy includes 1/4-inch inputs and outputs, a MIDI input that allows control of the pedal from an external MIDI device, 24-bit/96kHz A-to-D and D-to A converters, and a 9-volt DC power input. An on/off switch engages and disengages the Whammy effect, and a “Classic/Chords” switch lets players select either mode.

The DigiTech Whammy will be available in May 2012 at $299.95.

Working primarily in music scored to picture, I saw something as versatile as Iris having immediate applications in my daily work. Iris is a creative sandbox that lets you quickly create/transform sounds that you’d have otherwise never imagined from the source material.

Figure 1

While most people’s first move might be to load up the presets and check things out, I was excited to dive right in with original sounds of my own. iZotope defines Iris as a “visual instrument”, and indeed on first glance, I was eager to try “painting” on the spectral map of a sample. Bandpass filters are one thing, but Iris lets you literally draw the frequencies you want to be passed through (or muted). This is an experience I’ve never had with a music production tool prior to Iris.

The first thing I did was pull in a stem from a recent project. It was a piano track which went through a 4 bar progression. (See figure 1)

Within Iris, I singled out a section of the audio within the progression so that it would loop evenly. Next, I engaged the Magic Wand tool (reminiscent of Adobe Photoshop) and began to experiment. What I created was something that sounded vaguely like a music box instead of a piano. Washing it out with verb and some distortion – both Iris post effects – I achieved something so far-flung from a piano sound that it was immediately inspiring.

I spent more time with this single instance of Iris; using the same piano stem I had dragged in before, I put it on another of the three available slots where you load your audio samples. There, I had the sample play backwards, and began randomly drawing boxes and circles. (See figure 2) This added a slight random quality to the overall sound that I hadn’t achieved prior.

Figure 2

After feeling satisfied with my first Iris patch, I decided to move on to creating some dark pads. Most of the other instances of Iris within my project featured sounds like single-violins being time-stretched, or a single vocal “aah” sample.

There’s an amazing feature within Iris called “Radius RT”, and I employed it heavily within my project. What “Radius RT” does is simply keep the playback length/speed the same no matter where you play a sample on the keyboard. Take a single note of a piano, map it somewhere low on the keyboard and then enable Radius RT. Now, all of the notes you play in the upper registers sound – though familiar like a piano – oddly eerie and ghostly. Within the context of the piece I was working up, these sounds were dramatic and only somewhat recognizable – perfect for something modern as well as a horror, suspense or futuristic film project.

I was about to begin pulling up some of my other synths to work out some transitional elements, but stopped myself and decided to see what I could come up with within Iris. It’s extremely simple to do something like create a pink-noise wash, which I did in the opening moments of my project. It’s also faster than automating a filter within your DAW. Just paint in a curve over the pink noise and you’re there. (See figure 3)

Figure 3

While Iris’ applications are undeniably novel and creative, I can see how its purpose and place may be a bit unclear to some users, depending on how they’re used to working. But if you’re willing, and even looking, to think just slightly outside the box, you can create unique sounds with Iris that work great as ambient layers, as well as transitional elements. If you work in film, you will immediately see applications for Iris — i.e. creating unique-sounding layers to put under a more traditional track, or idea. In short; it’s inspiring!

If you fire up Iris only to find yourself lost, iZotope has a few tutorials online to help get you started. Furthermore, there are myriad user-made tutorials to help show you the ropes and the basics. It’s difficult to instruct someone to a specific end-goal with software like this; you will find that you create something new each time you use it.

Check out Nathan’s track “Mementos”

Full track
“Track” with Iris

Iris solo’d
“Track” without Iris

My criticism of Iris seems trivial: You won’t find any step sequencers or basic synths in Iris. There’s a Sub feature that lets you generate a number of basic tones (square, saw, pink noise, etc.), which can be played alongside three samples, but this program is clearly geared towards existing-audio manipulation.

Overall, I found Iris to be more than satisfactory for a new software instrument and sound design tool – it really is inspiring as a jumping off point on a new track, or as a source of interesting layers for a track that needs that extra “ something”. I love anything that allows me to take conventional sounds and turn them into something unique, original and all my own. In film, TV and ad scoring, tools like this go a long way in helping you craft distinctive tracks.

Nathan Kil, New York City

iZotope’s Iris can be purchased as a digital download for $249; Iris+2 is available for $299 and includes Iris plus the Glass and Wood sound libraries. Click for more info.

Nathan Kil is a prolific composer and sound designer with So Loud Music in NYC. His music has been featured in ads for Full Tilt Poker, Subway, Sharp Electronics and LG among others, as well as longer-form projects and PSAs for NOLA Pictures and Razorfish. Nathan is one of 9 composers selected to write for AMP’s next Muse2Music event in Los Angeles on May 31.

Slate’s canyon compound is made up of a main house – originally built as a hunting lodge in the 1920s – which contains his offices, and two smaller buildings: one for Slate’s personal studio, and the other, a suite occupied by veteran mastering engineer Howie Weinberg.

Steven Slate

Slate’s business began here in 2006, when he began selling his much-lauded drum samples. Initially used by mixers looking to supplement drum kits in need of a little sonic bolstering, the samples and the software accompanying them have grown into a full-fledged virtual instrument. Slate launched Steven Slate Drums 4.0 early this year and says it’s been the most successful release yet.

Along with Steven Slate Drums, 2006 also brought about the founding of Slate Pro Audio, a business dedicated to the design and manufacture of hardware devices. To date, Slate Pro Audio has released two products that distinguish themselves in their ability to capture many sounds from one box – The “Fox”, a mic preamplifier, and the “Dragon”, an 1176 style compressor with some very unique modifications.

Maybe the biggest news for DAW users, however, has been Slate’s foray into the world of digitally modeled analog hardware.

Along with his partner, algorithm designer and programmer Fabrice Gabriel, “Slate Digital” has become a force to be reckoned with in the pro audio plug-in market. Specifically, Slate Digital’s VCC (Virtual Console Collection) console emulation plugin represents one of the best attempts at modeling some of the world’s classic recording consoles. What sets these models apart from other plug-ins is Slate and Gabriel’s commitment to accurately modelling every aspect of the original gear – especially the imperfections and non-linearities that affect audio in such desirable fashions.

In Slate’s own words: “We model 100%, if we do 98% I think we’ve failed.”

In The Pipeline: Virtual Tape Machines, Steven Slate Drums, Top Secret Works

Before we began our interview, Slate took me for a quick tour of their offices. Set back off the road, the idyllic setting seems much more like a leafy residence than a place of business. Additionally, most of the manufacturing takes place off-site, further contributing to the sense of calm. However that impression was only skin deep, as there seemed to be different staff members at every turn.

It’s a relaxed environment to be sure, and with numerous products in development or update, the mood suggests this is a fairly well-oiled operation. We ended our tour in Slate’s personal studio, featuring a modified Neotek console with an API mix buss.

Slate's new Virtual Tape Machine plugin is scheduled to launch in June.

When I sat down with Slate, he opened up quite a bit about where the company is headed. There are some really stellar offerings coming in the near future…only a few of which can be discussed here, unfortunately! Slate seemed most excited to discuss his latest plug-in, the Virtual Tape Machine (VTM), which will launch into beta testing later this week.

Given Slate and Gabriel’s focus on perfection, and a marketplace rife with competitors, creating another plug-in tape emulator seems like a big undertaking. But to hear it from Slate, the competition may be what ultimately drove him to develop this product in the first place.

“To be frank, I’d listened to what was available currently, and I was really unimpressed, because it didn’t sound like exactly like what I felt I’d been hearing from tape itself…then we did some testing and confirmed that although they were modeling some things, they weren’t capturing 100% of what existed in the hardware.”

Slate has had a long love affair with tape, beginning with his tenure as a studio intern.

“I got into the industry when I was 14. I worked at this studio and I watched as the owner brought in the first blackface ADAT. He thought it was going to be the savior of the recording industry and said, ‘Turn those tape machines off, wait until you see this thing…we’re going to be the hottest thing in town!’ I remember thinking how hi-fi this digital machine was going to be, how breathtakingly awesome it was…and within five minutes we were like, this thing must be broken! So, analog tape has a special part of my soul when it comes to music.”

Given that there are some very accomplished manufacturers out there who have recently released some highly acclaimed tape emulations, this project definitely represented a risk for Slate, but his chief concern throughout was successfully creating something he would want to use himself.

“When it came time to do a tape plug-in, it was scary for me because I had a lot to live up to,” he says. “I had to capture such a complex sound that is so indescribable; there is so much going on. Fabrice and I made a commitment to each other though – we said ‘we gotta do this right,’ and by ‘right’ I mean that any differences between the machine and the plug-in will be simply indistinguishable.

“When it comes down to it, people don’t totally trust plug-ins. I mean everyone uses them, but everyone has this idea that even though the plug-in is good, the hardware would be better. Today, we have the processing power to [develop software that stands up to the hardware] – there is nothing stopping us from capturing these dynamic, nonlinear analog qualities.”

After over a year of intense development and endless listening tests, Slate is finally happy with the results – the VTM plugin is scheduled to launch next month. The plugin models two tape machines: A 16-Track Studer A-827 from NRG, and Howie Weinberg’s own transformer-equipped Studer 1/2” 800 B. Given the exhaustive modeling process, as well as the sounds I’ve been getting from the Slate VCC I can’t wait to hear it for myself!

Although the VTM will be the latest and greatest offering from Slate Digital, there are some other new products in the pipeline as well.

For devotees of the Slate Drum line, a new set of samples will be coming soon, recorded by some of the biggest names in the industry. Sitting in Slate’s control room, he played me some of the sounds in their recently recorded and unedited state. They continue to represent the flawlessly recorded, album-ready drum sounds that Slate users have come to expect.

As for some of the other products, I’ve been sworn to secrecy, but I can tell you that there is at least one big reason to keep your eye on Slate at the coming AES show. Stay tuned…

Click to visit Slate Digital, Slate Pro Audio and Steven Slate Drums.

Bo Boddie is a Grammy winning engineer/producer and composer who has worked with Santana, Everlast, Korn, Reni Lane, and many others. He just completed work on Imperial Teen’s second release on Merge Records, as well as composition work on the new ABC sitcom Don’t Trust the B@#$% in Apartment 23.

The Black Box Microphone Preamp was designed and built by Black Box Analog Design – established in 2009 by studio owners and audio engineers Eric Racy and Robert Wainscott. This tube pre has reportedly been “designed from the ground up, using the best parts and ignoring all of the standard ideas of how a preamp ‘should work’. The result is an incredibly versatile piece of gear that not only sounds amazing but shatters the idea of what a preamp can do.”

The all-tube Black Box mic pre (introductory price $1,995)

This tweak-friendly all-tube design features continuously variable triode and pentode stages, which puts the tonal character of the preamp in the user’s hands.

According to the product announcement:

“The Black Box enables users to uniquely shape their sound by implementing unconventional methods and such features as an entirely analog audio path, custom, hand wound Cinemag input and output transformers, hand soldered point-to-point wiring, independently controlled Pentode and Triode tube stages (as well as independent Pentode / Triode “Tone Boost” switches), 350v linear power supply and the ability to shape the frequency response without the use of an EQ.

For a complete list of specifications, click here.

Said Wainscott: “I approached the design of the Black Box Microphone Preamp in the same manner I would set up for a mix session. I mixed a single tube with everything plugged into a ‘patchbay’ and all the values that shape how the tube works were fluid. Everything from plate voltage to blocking capacitors could be changed in real time, which afforded me the room to perfect the Mic Pre’s design, resulting in the unit we have today.”

The Black Box Mic Pre (MSRP $2,500) is now available through Vintage King Audio at an introductory MAP price of $1,995.

For more information, visit www.blackboxanalog.com.

Kelly Carson is the latest addition to Propeller Music Group.

In its most recent addition, Propeller announced that Kelly Carson has recently joined the company as New Business Development Executive. In her post, Carson will work with Partners Gregg Singer and Iris Schaffer in overseeing the general marketing and national sales efforts for the company.

Carson is joining Propeller with nearly a decade of experience in the industry, most recently performing national sales/marketing for the video design and concept/post production facility Bionic.

Before Bionic, Carson was with the independent commercial repping firm Schafler Artists, providing sales representation to more than 20 companies involved in commercial production.

JD McMillin thought out his professional path to Nutmeg Post's Studio F.

Working with clients including Nickelodeon, Food Network, AMC and Oxygen, McMillin has joined a golden-ears team at Nutmeg. After a five-year stint at Bionic, McMillin is moving the faders with a talented group that includes Tim Altman, Jonathan Bloom, Frank Cabanach, Roger Licari, Kevin McElligott, Steve Perski, Dan Stevens and Frank Verderosa.

With audio post often being a fluid situation, personnel-wise, SonicScoop took the opportunity to ask about the factors that lead an in-demand mixer to switch facilities. Here’s three quick questions on the topic with JD McMillin:

What was the big draw for you at Nutmeg?

The people.  When I was first offered the job, I was a bit apprehensive about making a change but as I spent more time with them, I realized I wanted to work with this crew. I also had the luxury of working with a few of the editors on various projects, and they all had great things to say about Nutmeg.

The owner, Tony Spaneo is awesome. Our managing director, Jon Adelman and Executive Producer, Laura Vick handle the behind-the-scenes business so I can focus purely on mixing and the client – they’re available for guidance but they leave us to do what we do best.  So the support staff and tech departments are second to none.

The combination of excellent management and killer support makes it not only easy to do my job, but I WANT to do my job.  It instills great confidence knowing that the team is servicing the client and turning out great work.

What else made you feel right about moving to a new facility at this stage in your career?

Beside the obvious – which are the rooms – it’s the team.  We work as a team, picking up sessions for each other and offering input. If you’re not comfortable with the people you work with, it’s impossible to do your job. I never have to worry if I’m going to hand off a project for another mixer to finish.

There are nine mixers here, and I can’t say enough about them. It’s hard to get nine guys to work well together. I was fortunate enough to be part of a well-oiled, three-man machine at Bionic, so I know what that feels like. It’s great.

You mentioned the room. What do you like about Studio F?

I love my new room. It’s a very large, great-sounding 5.1 room that took very little time to get used to. I have a slew of virtual instruments that provides plenty of versatility for composing music and sound design. The room also has a rack of Avalon pre-amps and access to a great array of mics, so everything I record sounds great. Lastly, there’s plenty of space to fit up to eight people comfortably – that’s ideal for agency work.

– David Weiss

Strap on the Xth Sense at Harvestworks, and learn to make music in a whole new way.

Producers, engineers, artists and developers who push the envelope may be interested in one or both of the following, held at Harvestworks HQ at 596 Broadway:

May 19/20 The Xth Sense – Making Your Own Biophysical Sensor
Instructors: Marco Donnarumma / Atau Tanaka
Sat/Sun, May 19 + 20, noon to 6pm

The workshop offers a hands-on experience and both theoretical and practical training in gestural control of music and live video, deploying the Xth Sense (XS), a brand-new, biophysical, free and open technology. The XS was recently awarded the first prize in the Margaret Guthman Musical Instrument Competition (Georgia Tech, US 2012) as the “world’s most innovative new musical instrument”. Participants build their own XS biosensor and learn how to generate interactive music and control live videos using the muscle sounds of their bodies.

See more information on this intriguing course here.

Cost: Regular: $280, Members & Students (with ID): $250 (+ $40 Materials Cost)
Registrants are reminded to bring the $40 for the materials cost in cash to the workshop.
The workshop is limited to 10 people.

May 26 Advanced real-time sound and data processing with FTM&Co
Instructors: Diemo Schwartz, Hans Leeuw and Matthew Ostrowski
Saturday, May 26, noon to 6pm

The FTM&Co extensions for Max/MSP make it possible to program prototype applications that work with sound, music or gesture data in both time and frequency domain in a more complex and flexible way than what we know from other tools. This workshop will provide an introduction to the free Ircam libraries FTM, MnM, Gabor, and CataRT for interactive real-time musical and artistic applications.

Read the full details on this course here.

Cost: Regular: $150, Members & Students (with ID): $135

elysia nvelope 500 - out now ($975 MAP)

This two-space stereo dynamics processor is reportedly capable of making subtle or drastic changes to a sound by altering its impulse structure, providing direct control over the envelope of a signal by shaping the intensity of its attack and sustain.

The nvelope 500 is primarily intended to shape individual signals, but is also billed as useful in mixing applications, as it can reportedly “subtly shift a sound towards the front of the mix using more attack and less sustain, or blend it gently into the background by reducing its attack and increasing its sustain.”

In Dual Band mode, the nvelope 500 offers enhanced tweakability. “Individual frequency controls for attack and sustain yield precise results while avoiding unwanted artifacts, even when utilized on complex material like a summing bus.”

elysia co-founder Dominik Klassen says the nvelope 500 can be used on many different instruments, including drums, percussion, bass, edgy guitar, and acoustic piano, but that “generally speaking, the impulse shaping process works optimally on audio signals with a significant/percussive attack structure.”

The nvelope 500 offers true dual mono or linked stereo operation in Full Range, Dual Band or EQ mode. It is made in Germany using top quality components, gold plated PCBs, a rugged 4mm aluminum front panel and solid aluminum knobs.

It is available immediately at $1,049 MSRP / $975 MAP.