MOTU Announces MicroBook II Audio Interface

January 26, 2012 by David Weiss
/* Filed under Deli Feed, Deli NYC Feed, News */

The Hamptons — Now with World Class Sound: MonkMusic Elevates East End Recording

January 15, 2012 by David Weiss
/* Filed under NYC Spotlight, SPARS Feed */

EAST HAMPTON, NY: Cynthia Daniels was surrounded by foam. But when the natural beauty of the famed Hamptons – and the surprisingly abundant audio needs of its equally famed residents – are beckoning, this is not a good thing.

Audio has a new adress on the East End: Welcome to MonkMusic. (click to enlarge)

What were the reasons for the acoustic insulation overload that was affecting Daniels, a GRAMMY-winning engineer/mixer/producer who has been recording sounds of every sort since 1984? Her condition stemmed from two causes:

1) Nonstop demand for her talents, which span recording and mixing for Broadway, film, TV, and music clients of every stripe, and

2) The almost total lack of an acceptable audio facility to work out of anywhere near her Hamptons home base

“I can’t tell you the amount of money I spent on foam, and trying to make records in a small space,” Daniels relates of her home studio days. “Sometimes I got good results. But there are many people who come here over the summer – or live here all year – who need a place to record. They’re used to a beautiful environment where they’re being taken care of, and they like finding it run by an engineer with the same years of experience in cities like Los Angeles and New York.”

That engineer would be Daniels, and the place they can now go to record anything from a quick VO to a full-on rock album is MonkMusic, a new 650-sq. ft. studio designed by the Walters-Storyk Design Group. As versatile as its owner, the three-room complex is built to welcome an East End jam band outfit one day, and an airtight ADR session for the likes of local residents like Sir Paul McCartney, Alec Baldwin, and Sarah Jessica Parker the next.

Perfect Placement

Like a lot of smart ventures, location location location was a massive part of the strategy for making MonkMusic – an aesthetically appealing wing attached to Daniels’ home – a reality.

“Having lived in the Hamptons for 15 years, and vaciatoned here for 15 years before that, I know there is nothing close to this – technically or sonically — for at least 70 miles,” Daniels explains, in her high-energy manner. “So I’m providing what I hope is a technical and aesthetic excellence that comes from my experience. Meanwhile, I try to keep my ears and mind open, because innovation and new means of expression are the name of the game.”

If anyone knows the game its Daniels, a Connecticut native attracted early on to the wonders of audio engineering, who then moved to NYC and managed to get her early training with no less than Phil Ramone at the landmark studio A&R Recording. Surrounded by the “Platinum Crew” of legends like Ramone, Elliot Scheiner, Ed Rak and Tom Jung, Daniels quietly became an A-list engineer in her own right, amassing a dizzyingly large list of clients since her first credited session in 1984.

Of her hundreds of credits — from Broadway to Carnegie Hall soloists and Lincoln Center opera, TV, film and spoken word — highlights include a 2002 GRAMMY Award for recording and mixing The Producers, a 2007 Emmy for composition and music supervision on the longest-running daytime series “Guiding Light“, and yet another GRAMMY in 2011 for her work on the Julie Andrews Collection CD.

Her music clients span the best of orchestral pop to big band jazz, including Chaka Khan, Judy Collins, Barbara Cook, Sandra Berhnard and Eartha Kitt. There’s literally far too much to list – a trip to her Website is highly recommended for the full picture.

Sporting a singularly spectacular place for her business, and 2.5 decades-plus of contacts to complement it, Daniels had a clear vision of what MonkMusic should be. Working closely with WSDG principal John Storyk and his team, she was able to map out a vision for a tailored facility where space – due to the Hamptons’ understandably specific zoning requirements – would be the only limitation.

Zen and the Art of Studio Design: “More Than a Mix Room”

For Daniels, the opportunity was not simply to have the best-sounding studio possible, but one molded exactly to her ears and workflow. “The goal was to get a room that I really understood,” she explains. “In terms of sound characteristics, predictable results and aesthetic appeal, it needed to deliver a consistent product in a place that had a great vibe.

MonkMusic makes the very most of its 650 sq. ft. (click to enlarge)

“I never imagined I would have my own John Storyk-designed room, and that’s a selling point for the studio. I think people like to know that, from the ground up, you’ve chosen the best for a project, to create a room that’s well-made for recording. The result here is the best money could buy, in this amount of space. I don’t think we cut any corners – what we cut was real estate.”

Although 650 sq. feet may sound small for a three-room recording/mixing complex, MonkMusic in fact feels expansive, and fittingly zen. Daniels’ priorities in the design were to make it “more than a mix room”, specifying clear lanes for visual contact between the compact live room and iso booth that flank the invitingly spacious control room. High ceilings of 11’ 2” allow the sounds from vocalists, guitar amps, drums, horns, strings, and/or a piano to breathe without being overly live.

At all turns, of course, total sound isolation between the rooms and especially to the outside world — where a permanent “Do Not Disturb” sign hangs on the high-priced homes in all directions – is essential. “This is a commercial-grade studio in a residential town,” says Daniels. “The soundproof double doors here are one of the most expensive parts of the facility.”

With magic carpets clean out of stock, Daniels chose a hybrid Avid C-24 console to fly the room, currently running Pro Tools 9 (an upgrade to 10 is imminent) with HD 3. A set of 5.1 Genelec 8240DSP monitors w/subwoofer were tuned for the room by Genelec and Mike Chafee of Michael Chafee Enterprises.

Available preamps include choices from Avalon, NPNG, Pacifica, Sytek, Millenia, and Focusrite, connecting to a treasure chest of classic and custom mics including a pair of DPA 4006-TL’s, a vintage AKG C-12 with original 6072 tube, Tab Funkenwerk UM 25 and UM 17 handbuilt by Oliver Archut with NOS Telefunken tubes, Neumann U87 and U89, AKG 414, Sennheiser 421S, and Royer R-122 Tube mic. Allesandro amps and cabinets, vintage guitars, a Yahama upright piano, and much more for the noisemakers are all on site.

Ready for the Pressure

While WSDG project manager Matt Ballos nailed down the studio’s acoustics (working closely with the local contractor who had never built acoustically-focused rooms before), Daniels worked with WSDG associate Judy Elliot-Brown of Rocket Science, and Mike Donahower on the wiring program and systems integration/installation. All the better to best handle what she identifies as the single-most daunting task on Monk Music’s menu of offerings.

“An ADR session can be extremely complex,” she points out. “It often requires you to send time code down the line, as you deliver the video into a part of the country with a different time zone. You are checking the synch, while you have pages and pages of lines close to each other, setting up leads in beeps, keeping track of the takes, which are moving fast because the artist needs to move fast. The director and three other people are in L.A., and another producer is over here. That, to me, is incredibly challenging in terms of focus and flow. I’m more relaxed recording a 60-piece orchestra on any given day!”

Sonic Sophistication Fit for the East End

But as it turns out, the difference in executing fast, painless ADR and VO for the mega-celebs that populate the Hamptons isn’t entirely about what she brings to the sessions – it’s also what they arrive with. “I’ve found that the more professional a person is, and the more experienced they are, the less they have to prove,” says Daniels. “What they really want is to do the job, so they can get out of here and go do what they want, without having to go all the way to Manhattan. No matter how famous the person is, your task is the same: You’re working with an artist, and your job is to make their job easier. As an engineer, you are facilitating – you are a facility.”

(L-R) Cynthia Daniels and Beth Walters of the Walters-Storyk Design Group. (click to enlarge)

While it may be easy to channel some reverse snobbery of sorts at the Hamptons, the fact is that this collection of villages and hamlets on Long Island’s South Fork is a vibrant cultural beacon all its own. The serene beauty of the ocean and land have long served as a muse for American artistic giants ranging from Jackson Pollack and John Steinbeck to Billy Joel, a setting inspirational to an active East End music scene that stays creative year-round.

Daniels does her part to shed light on that scene with her MonkMusic Radio broadcast, which happens twice a month on WPPB 88.3 FM. “I’ve produced and recorded a lot of local artists, put them on the air, and its blossomed into something bigger than I ever expected,” relates Daniels, whose recent guests have included Nancy Atlas, Joe Delia and Garland Jeffries (go here to check out the archived broadcasts). “I’m really active in the community, and I’ve created a facility for the local musicians to come to. And I realized that I’m in service of something – service is not a penance, and everything they said is true: The more I give, the more I get.”

What Cynthia Daniels and the Hamptons have both gotten is a much-deserved sonic sanctuary. Finally in a home away from foam, her new wing is a wonderland where an accomplished career is taking flight once again.

“I’m feeling an advance in my level of creativity,” she confirms. “There’s something about the feeling of this space…it’s an amazing environment where musicians want to come, play live, and record with each other. I can spend innumerable hours a day here, and want to come back for more.”

– David Weiss

Tags: ADR, Alec Baldwin, audio post, Billy Joel, Cynthia Daniels, Hamptons recording studios, Hamptons studio, Hamptons studios, Jackon Pollack, John Steinbeck, John Storyk, mixing, MonkMusic, post, recording, recording studios in the Hamptons, Sarah Jessica Parker, Sir Paul McCartney, The Hamptons, tracking, VO, Walters-Storyk Design Group, WSDG

Neumann Launches KH 810 and KH 870 Active Studio Subwoofers

January 3, 2012 by David Weiss
/* Filed under Deli Feed, Deli NYC Feed, News */

3 Comments

Neumann has announced the launch of two new active subwoofers: the KH 810 ($1,999) and KH 870 ($3,199).

The Neumann KH 810 active subwoofer

Both subs feature Neumann’s 7.1 High Definition Bass Manager technology, which is designed specifically to work well with high-definition video and accompanying 7.1 formats.

According to Neumann, the comprehensive 7.1 High Definition Bass Management system is an ideal complement to the Neumann KH 120 nearfield two-way monitor, introduced last fall. It can be used either as a subwoofer dedicated to reproducing the LFE channel, or as a means of providing low frequency extension with an increased maximum SPL.

The combination of KH 120 and KH 810 was created for music tracking, mixing and mastering, as well as broadcasting, project and post-production studios.

With the KH 810, facilities can assemble flexible monitoring systems for studios of different sizes, with a smooth, uniform response that ranges from below 20 Hz to above 20 kHz.

Additionally, the integrated 7.1 High Definition Bass Manager is compatible with all formats, from mono to 7.1 high definition systems such as Blu-ray. Eight electronically balanced analog XLR inputs are provided for flexible interconnectivity for modern studios.

Features of the KH 810 and KH 870 include:

The Neuman KH870 makes it happen down to 18 Hz.

•   Four-mode LFE channel processing for maximum compatibility across all formats
•   4th order crossovers and flexible acoustic controls for seamless system integration
•   Built-in volume control permits centralized system adjustment of replay levels, independent of the source
•   Electronics can be located remotely to reduce cabling, and to allow the cabinet to be mounted flush to a wall
•   State-of-the-art amplifier technologies and acoustic components have been used to ensure maximum accuracy of sound reproduction
•   Robust 10-inch driver, solid cabinet, and carefully-designed ports guarantee tight, articulate, distortion-free low frequency reproduction down to 18 Hz; even at high playback levels
•   By using sum output, Plane Wave Bass Array (PWBA) techniques can acoustically improve lateral consistency in the listening area and further increase low frequency linearity
•   System flexibility is further enhanced by an extensive range of accessories

Tags: 7.1, broadcast, High Definition Bass Manager, mastering, mixing, Neuamn KH 810, Neumann, Neumann KH 870, Neumann monitors, Neumann subs, Neumann subwoofers, post, Surround

Review: Vertigo VSC-2 Quad Discrete VCA Compressor Plugin from Brainworx

January 2, 2012 by Jason Finkel
/* Filed under Tech & Reviews */

2 Comments

A few months ago I was at my good friend Kevin Blackler’s mastering studio. I noticed this rad-looking piece of gear in his rack and asked him what is was.

The original hardware version of the Vertigo Sound VSC-2 uses four discrete 1979 VCA's in its two channels.

“Oh man”, he said. “That’s the Vertigo compressor…you ever hear this thing? It’s awesome!”Wait…a new compressor that I had never heard of? I needed to know what this thing was about.

Was this the Holy Grail that was going to make all my mixes 10% better just by running through it? Was it some modern technology that amazifies sonics with a newly utilized semi-conductor giving an analog sound of some long-forgotten piece of recording myth?

Well, kinda.

After a few e-mails and phone calls, Joel Morowitz of Ecstatic Electric showed up at my door with a demo unit of the Vertigo VSC-2 for me to try out. I used it on some mixes and to record some guitars and vocals. It had a really, really great sound: smooth and punchy, dimensional, and hi-fi.

It was a gorgeous piece, but at the end of the day $6000+ was a lot to spend on a compressor I did not desperately need. So with a bit of sadness, I returned the unit to Joel.

About a month later I received an email from SonicScoop.com HQ asking me if I wanted to review a new Brainworx plugin…an emulation of the Vertigo VSC-2. I was in.

Meet the Vertigo VSC-2 Quad Discrete Compressor:

The German-built Vertigo VSC-2 is a true stereo peak detecting feed forward compressor design. Unlike, a feedback design (1176LN, LA-2A, LA-3A) the sidechain detector, which sends the control voltage to the gain reduction (e.g photocell,VCA, FET etc…), gets its signal from the audio input and not after the gain reduction VCA. This allows for better control of fast transients.

The VSC-2 utilizes hand-built VCA’s on both the sidechain and the audio path to give it it’s signature “1979” sound.

The feed forward signal path.

It’s a modern take on ‘70’s and ‘80’s VCA compressors. The more you push it and the more you use make up gain, the more it colors the sound. It’s really a no-expense spared “Mercedes-Benz of compressors”. Quite simply…it’s the balls.

Game of Clones: Meet the Vertigo VSC-2 by Brainworx

Virtual Vertigo

Brainworx worked directly with Vertigo to develop their plugin version, which is compatible with RTAS, AS, VST and AU formats and sells for $331 from their Website.

The plugin GUI is identical to the original’s faceplate and sports all of the cool features of the original like a true dual mono path (you can link or unlink a stereo track or use it as a true mono plugin on a mono track) and “Soft mode” which “tip toes” the ratio from 1:1 to 8:1 as the input level increases.

Also included are the low frequency side chain filters. These selectable filters gently attenuate out either 90Hz down or 60 Hz down from the compression detector, making the low end content more audible in a mix as it now less compressed.

Sound Opinions:

Functionalities aside, I want to speak a little about listening to gear. Everybody has their own methods and practices, but I am particularly interested in not relying on my emotions or what I think I think.

I could use a piece of gear in the studio one week and a different piece the next and each could work out great on a bunch of different sources, but to know which sounded better you have to put things head-to-head.

The sonic difference between a lot of pieces of pro gear is just not that dramatic, especially ones that do not use coloration as a strength. A little bit of gain difference on one or the other by even just a few tenths of a dB and most people will begin to ascribe all sorts of false merits to the louder piece.

When care is taken to make sure that you’re listening at equal volumes, the subtle differences of compression detection, attack and release curve variations and tone will be far more apparent.

The Setup:

The way I went about testing the VSC-2 plugin was to get it to sound good on a particular track, and then duplicate the track and bring up any number on plug-ins I normally use for that type of track and see if I could get it to sound better than the VSC-2.

The GUI of the Brainworx VSC-2.

I would try to keep the ratios, attack times, style of detection, input and output gains as close to the VSC-2 as I could. I would then go back and forth to listen for sonic differences.

If there were artifacts produced by the other comp I would back off or change the setting so it sounded nice and then conform the VSC-2 to that plugin. The two main things that I liked most about the VSC-2 are the smoothness of the sound and it’s flexibility.

The Sound:

Like its physical counterpart, the VSC-2 plugin has a good amount of mid-range detail, it never sounds scooped or thin. It’s smooth and present in the high frequency range, as I mentioned before, and it’s very hi-fi and dimensional.

One of the main things I first noticed with the physical unit, and subsequently with the plug-in, was that it always sounded like there was more gain reduction occurring than the meters showed. When I asked Vertigo, they noted their robust metering design and hinted that any difference compared to another compressor may have more to with that comps meter than the VSC-2.

Either way, I put it up against a number of great plugs, and not only did it sound as good as most, but often, it sounded better.

The Flexibility:

Whatever I put the VSC-2 plug-in on, there was always a way to get it to function well. The ability to unlink the stereo controls to widen the image, use the filters to bring up the low end information, and use the Soft Mode to tackle tricky dynamics made each task more manageable.

While most of the other plug-ins would sound great for a particular type of work but not for something else, the VSC-2 dominated on the widest variety of projects and applications because of the flexibility of it’s feature set.

In Use:

Drums
On the drum buss, backing off the attack a bit and using “soft mode” while using the fastest release time gave an amazing hi-fi punchy sound while also bringing the “air” in the room well up front. Even with near -10dB of compression the highs stay intact and no unwanted compression artifact is introduced.

You’re never going to get a sloppy “pumping” sound because of the faithful feed forward modeling. Throw in the sidechain filters and you can get the kick super upfront while not having to readjust what was going on with the rest of the compression.

How would Brainwox' code measure up in a head-to-head with Vertigo Sounds' analog circuitry?

Acoustic Guitars
Next up were acoustic guitars. This was interesting because unlike most comp plugs, notably feed back designs, I was never able to get a splacky, clipped sound from missing the transient on a fast or not-quite-so-fast attack setting.

The attack setting on the VSC-2 is incredibly musical and again no weird artifact, just precision envelope altering. Even backing off to a 3ms attack time I was able to drop the sharp peaks of the guitar and compress without any weird wobble effect.

Vocals
I got to really enjoy the “Soft Mode” ratio setting on vocals. With popped “P’s” the ratio adjusts to the input level and then returns to a less aggressive ratio for the rest of the line. Not only was I able to reduce the peak of the “P’s” with out getting a smooshed moment, but also because there was only more compression on the “P” moment there was not any overly loud inhale before the “P” or any recovery dip afterward.

Even with a normal 4:1 ratio, the vocal envelope stayed smooth with a 3ms attack and auto release. Unlike a lot of plugs, there were many flavors I could get on the vocals that all sound smooth without artifacts. Being aggressive or staying dynamic, The VSC-2 could handle whatever I needed from the track.

Head-to-head:

While some people may not care if an emulation sounds like the physical unit, I do. I want to know.

I want to put them head to head, run the same material through it at the same time, through the same converters calibrated to the same level and switch back and forth and see if there is a difference, and if so see how big is it. So that’s what I did.

Below you can watch a vid of the plugin vs the physical unit, compressing an unmastered mix I did of the song “Ladies and Gentleman” by the Brooklyn band Cold Blood Club from their forth coming 7”. Watch it first (and LISTEN!), then read on for my thoughts.

Vertigo VSC-2 Plug-in vs Physical Unit from _TMDS_ on Vimeo.

While I was accurately able to set the physical unit to the plug-in using some phase cancellation techniques and a whole bunch of metering, as soon as you change the source material or change any of the attack, release, or ratio settings, the two pieces begin to apply their compression curves in a different manner, no longer behaving the same.

Andy from Vertigo speculated that perhaps the plug-in, or the unit, was at a different point of the compression curve when initially compared to each other. I am not so sure. There are only two continuously variable controls on the VSC-2: threshold and make-up gain. Eliminating the make-up (by not using it) and adjusting the threshold until the physical unit almost completely cancels a 1kHz tone gets them almost sonically identical, and causes both plug-in and physical meters to behave identically.

So what does that mean for me, the user? It means the two work differently — the relationship between how the controls work and the resulting compression are a little different. However, as you can hear in the video, when they are calibrated to each other…they sound nearly identical. The physical unit is a little smoother in the upper midrange and retains a little more dimensionality, but yeah, still pretty amazing. Besides, you’re supposed to be listening to the unit, not relying on the settings, right?

Conclusion:

If you read this far you know I am into the VSC-2 — it’s super-versatile. Whether you’re using it on your vocals, guitars, a drum buss or individual drums, the VSC-2 dominates.

If I had to mix entirely in the box it would be my first choice for 2-buss compression. I know mastering engineers that use it and love the sound.

Brainworx has delivered a professional plug-in that offers an outstanding modern architecture and flexibility. Throw in the fact that it sports a near- identical sonic footprint to one of the coolest hi-fi sounding comps out there — and sells for $331 — and it’s a no-brainer.

Jason Finkel works between speakers all day in his Brooklyn, NYC mix studio, 4A. Check his Website for contact/info and follow his new music blog This Music Doesn’t Suck.

Tags: AU, Brainworx, critical listening advice, dynamics, how to compare software and hardware, how to evaluate audio hardware, how to evaluate audio software, mastering, mixing, plug-in, plugin, plugn, review, RTAS, VCA, Vertigo Sound, VSC-2, VSC-2 Quad Discrete Compressor, VST

Cross-Country View: Ed Cherney on L.A, NYC, and Career Quality Control

January 1, 2012 by Mark Hermann
/* Filed under NYC Spotlight */

3 Comments

LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK CITY: A GRAMMY and TEC Award-winning engineer/producer, Ed Cherney has had the kind of illustrious studio career that puts him in the pantheon of greats to have ever twisted some knobs in this business. Iggy Pop, Bob Seger, Bette Midler, Bonnie Raitt, Wynonna, Eric Clapton, Jann Arden, Jackson Browne, Keb’ Mo, Bob Dylan, and the Rolling Stones, are just a few of the legendary artists that Cherney has worked with.

Ed Cherney's experience has revealed an uncomplicated career road map for the complexities of 2012.

I had the opportunity to rap with him up on the rooftop at the now-legendary AES SonicScoop/Flux Studios party this past October. We traded war stories and talked about the state of the union in the music biz today, where he came from — and where he sees it all going. He had some wonderful insights so I asked him if would be into doing an interview, which he graciously agreed to do.

Cherney is Los Angeles-based, but his wisdom transcends geographical boundaries and certainly resonates here in NYC. Here’s what went down:

What are you working on right now?

I’m mixing a Don Felder record.

What’s he up to these days? Is he on a label?

You know what? He’s not. We may license it to put out on a label. There’s a bunch of offers on the table, and he’s been out starting the touring, and working weekends. We’re really just starting to build this thing. You know, when we finish this record, I think we’ll go to town then but there’s a lot on the table. I can’t say what it is yet, but it’s a great record. He’s a great artist. I mean, he wrote “Hotel California” for God’s sake.

Yeah, yeah, I think I’ve heard of that. What do you think of the new songs?

I think the songs are great. He’s a great writer, he’s a great artist. And what a great musician. He knows what great music is about. He’s been making it for thirty some odd years. Everything has a certain familiarity because you’re certainly familiar with this guy’s work. You’ve been hearing it in the Eagles sound for however long now.

I always tell people a funny road story when I was out there with Joe Walsh. We were playing Miami one time. So we flew in, got into the van and there’s always that van driver that wants to blast music because, you know, they think rock and roll guys really want to listen to rock and roll wherever they go, right?

Yeah.

So we get in and he immediately cranks up the music and what’s playing on the radio but “Hotel California.” So eventually as it’s approaching the guitar solo, the van guy gets up the nerve and he turns around to Joe and he’s like, “Look man, I just gotta ask you…” And Walsh, not missing a beat goes, “Felder, me, me, me!”

laughs

And the guy’s like, “What did you mean?” And Walsh goes, “You were going to ask me, like, ‘Who did what guitar solo,’ right?”

Cherney checks into Santa Monica's The Village to mix.

So where are you spending most of your time these days, Ed? In L.A.?

Yeah, I have a studio. I have my own mix room that I built and it’s at the Village.

And what gear are you working through?

It’s Pro Tools-based. I’ve got a Yamaha DM 2000 console, a lot of tube and iron outboard gear. It actually sounds pretty good, you know. I’ve done shootouts with myself where I’m taking the same song and mixing it out on a Neve and then mix it up here. And listen, you can hear what a Neve is, but I can get pretty close. You know, having your own room, you get tuned into it and you figure out how to do it. So I’m spending a lot of time in my room mixing.

Did you have a natural talent for the studio or did someone have to teach you?

You know, you walk into a studio, a bell goes off and you know that’s what you want to do. But I don’t think anyone has a natural ability to just be able to go in and make a great recording or mix. You have to learn how to do it, and typically, by trial and error. And a lot of error. (laughs)

What was your first studio gig?

I was working live and learning electronics, but I was making the rounds to try to get a job in the studio in Chicago. It took like 3 years of making the rounds. I looked at it as a job. Once a month I went to every studio in town. One day I showed up at a place and there was a guy named Bruce Swedien, who I’m still very close with, who became my mentor. He had a recording class.

There weren’t schools back then. So I saw an advertisement that he was having this little school in the studio in Chicago and I went and signed up for it and became close friends with him.

You know, he knew what my desire was so I took this recording class from him and coincidentally, after three years of banging on studio doors there was a place called Paragon Studios. So I knocked on the door that day. He happened to be working there and somebody had just gotten fired. And I got a job that day as an apprentice engineer, which meant showing up at five in the morning, cleaning toilets and cleaning headphones.

But, it was a true apprenticeship. The owner of the studio was like a drill sergeant and you learned from the bottom, from making tape copies to running for food. You’d better get a food order right cause you’re not moving on to the next thing if you can’t do that. I think two and a quarter an hour was what I was being paid. And you know what? I didn’t go home. They got me in that studio and I didn’t leave that place for four years. (laughs)

Bruce Swedien showed Ed Cherney that audio engineering is a business.

Let’s talk about that: mentors and apprenticeships. So Bruce was your mentor. What was the most valuable thing that you learned from him that stuck with you through your career?

You know what? He had a certain professionalism about him and for me, the way I started was kind of like a party.

But he ran his career like it was a business. And that had a very profound effect that you’re a professional and you run this thing like you’re running a business. It was nothing casual about it. And there’s a certain work ethic that, you know, I carried his briefcase around and watched him work and got what a real professional was about.

You know, this isn’t fucking around. This is a real deal. You want to be a pro, you act like one and you operate at a very high level in terms of running it as a business and in terms of what your skills should be and in terms of the integrity you need.

So how’d you get your big break? You’re working in the studio, you’re living there, you’re learning the craft…

My big break — you know, I worked my ass off for twelve years, thirteen years. Just at the bottom, and I’m telling you, I started cleaning toilets at five in the morning at the studio and two months later I was promoted and they gave me a brush. But that was it.

You started out with how to move a microphone, how to make tape dupes, I did everything. How you run a cable, to aligning tape machines, to the proper etiquette. You know, you just learn those things. You had to, and if you didn’t learn them, you were fired. I saw a lot of people go by just doing and saying the wrong thing.

So I worked through Chicago and I started as the assistant to the assistant, and running for food and worked my way up to being the assistant engineer. I remember the guy that owned the place. There were only four assistants. And I remember him giving us all a tape and giving us a couple of hours to go and mix a song, and it was going to be like, “Oh, this is my big break. I’m going to do this.” And it sounded like shit. And I was disappointed, but then it dawned on me, nobody can do this on a knack.

These are skills that are learned over a long period of time and a lot of it too is sitting behind people that are great because you start to understand, sonicly, what a hit sounds like, what great music sounds like and what you’re trying to accomplish sonicly. So you have something to base what you do later on those things that became kind of a sonic imprint on your DNA that you got early on.

Quincy Jones added to Cherney's audio knowledge.

I spent time sitting behind Swedien and Quincy Jones making a lot of hits, so the later work I did, I had something real specific that I could base what I was working on now and compare it to what that was.

We now live in a time when everyone and their grandmother has got a recording studio on their laptop and you’ve got an industry that’s in a downturn. Would you say that the sense of the classic apprenticeship is kind of done and what effect might that have had on the recording process?

Well, the classic apprenticeship still exists and it probably exists at the same level as it did 30 years ago. You know, a way to come up is to start running in the studio and working your way up to an assistant, and sitting behind some guys that really know what they’re doing that are really great. Guys that don’t go through that usually aren’t too good. (laughs)

I deal with a lot of stuff from guys that started with a laptop and Digital Performer or Logic or something like that, and maybe they’ve had some success and made some hits. But you know, listen to what music sounds like right now and it’s not good. We’ve got the highest definition video you’ve ever seen and the capability to have high definition audio and for the most part people are listening to compressed shitty audio.

You know, budgets aren’t so big so I get handed a lot of guys that recorded these albums themselves down here that haven’t served an apprenticeship and I’m dealing with some of the awfulest sounding recordings you ever heard. So the trend for the last few years is they record this shit hard and dark, all muffled and at the same time it’s so bright it gouges your eyes out.

How the fuck do you do that? I know how you do it. You overprocess everything going in. You overload the converters going in and you’ve never sat in a studio or you’ve never put your ear around what great music sounds like in a room being played by a great musician.

I remember Swedien, he insisted that I go to the symphony. Even though I was working on rock music and R&B music but he was absolutely right. In a great sounding acoustic space with great musicians and great music that you begin to understand what dynamics are about, what harmonic structure is about, musical balances, timbre, reverberation and things like that.

I see a lot of people, the only way they’ve ever heard music is through their laptop. Through some samples and some overcompressed and over EQ’d shit, through a shitty microphone, listening through some shitty speakers.

Amen. I write a lot about that concept in my column. You’re mostly in L.A. Do you have an opinion, as far as the regional differences today between the L.A. studio scene vs. Nashville or New York?

Cherney sees an L.A. scene that's grown to global proportions.

Well, you know what, the way I look at it, the L.A. scene isn’t the L.A. scene. The L.A. scene is the world scene. Here, there’s still great studios and if you go to the San Fernando Valley, every other house has a home studio and that’s just the nature of things.

But I see people and I have friends that come from all over the world to be here, to collaborate. They may be in bedrooms writing songs, but I see the world meeting here in Los Angeles right now and some of them are in great facilities but I just see people getting together from all over the place. From all over Europe, Latin America, Asia, and all over the world convening here. You want to make it? They’re here in Los Angeles. So, the L.A. scene is just a really international scene.

Nashville?

Nashville is Nashville. You know, Nashville when times get tough, they circle the wagons. You look at a lot the Nashville stuff, it’s a lot of the same songwriters, a lot of the same musicians, a handful of producers, a very small handful of engineers that are doing everything.

So I see Nashville as more of a regional, very provincial kind of scene, and especially as the business contracts, or has contracted, a lot of the work stays in a smaller circle of people who tend to be able to control it. The quality of the musicianship, production, and engineering though, is extremely high. These are some really experienced and competent people that are still driven by quality and integrity.

God only knows what’s happened in New York. You know, there’s obviously a lot of hip-hop, and pop a lot of urban things, and always spectacular jazz musicians, but there aren’t the great recording facilities that there were in New York in the 50’s and through the late 90’s, but you have a scene. You have the Dap Kings. You know the whole scene coming out of Brooklyn is fucking unbelievable. The music that’s being made there in that scene is world-class as far as I’m concerned, and game-changing.

And what’s really cool about it is people with really unique outlooks and really unique perspectives that aren’t worried, that pay attention to the business but pay more attention to the music and the individual artistic voices that they have. I think that’s really healthy and I think that’s really cool.

You know, there’s an interesting correlation here. You’ve got the whole Occupy Wall Streetthing going on right now. People might look at an Ed Cherney and go, “You know that Ed Cherney, he’s one of the 1%.” He’s a legend and then there’s the other 99% trying to make a living in the industry. And yet, here you are saying there’s not that much money in projects even at the level that you’re getting gigs at. So I guess, is it basically back to the love of the music?

With budgets down across the board, an ongoing passion for music is the equalizer.

That’s exactly what it is. Listen, the arc of a career of an artist, and I’ll include an engineer and a producer and a musician and a writer in music, but I think it equates to all art, is up and down. Peaks and valleys. That’s just what it is. You go into favor and hopefully, you have that harmonic convergence where you’re at the same place where the majority of your culture is, but that doesn’t last. You know, look at all great artists. For the most part they have two, three, four albums or they had a five year window where they were really hot and then they’re kind of gone. They’re doing nostalgic tours or corporate gigs.

As a mixer, it’s kind of the same thing. The window opens. There’s the opportunity where what you’re doing is meshing with what’s popular and then you ride that and hopefully it’s part of your soul. You’re expressing a part of your soul when your moment is there, which goes back to, if you’re going to run it like a business, save your money. Recognize that it doesn’t last forever. Save for the future ‘cause you’re going to need it, because the arc of your career is going to change.

I must add an epiphany that came to me recently. The only thing I have any real control of is the quality of my work. I can’t fix the business or make the budgets larger, or any of those kinds of things, but I can dedicate myself to making the best music with the most integrity I can muster. If I can just do that, hopefully all the other bullshit will take care if itself.

What advice would you give to someone starting out today in this climate who wants to have a go at a career?

Any advice that I could give to anyone starting out… the truth is you have to worry about money at some point, but all of us, the thing we all had in common is you get bitten by this bug and it takes any kind of choice out of it. You know what you’re supposed to do with your life and in the best of times, it’s never been easy. It’s never…ever…ever been easy.

And you’ll have a lot of assholes talking about, “Well, in my day…” It’s bullshit. It’s never easy, and starting out I saw dozens and dozens of guys just like me that dropped out and fell by the wayside and I’m talking producers, engineers, very talented musicians and writers, performers, that couldn’t, for whatever reason, make a go of it.

More than anything, I think it was just sheer tenacity that makes you become successful and being knocked down, because this whole thing was designed to knock you down. Being knocked down and how you recover from that and what you do.

The truth is, you do it for the right reasons. You don’t worry about the money. You do it for the love of it. You do it for the art, you do it to express yourself. In the case of engineering and producing, you serve the musician, you serve the song most of all. You serve the music. If you do that and you do it well, I think the rest is going to take care of itself.

I would totally agree with that, and if you’re going to leave us with anything, what would one Ed Cherney trick be to walk away and go, “Just that is going to make your song sound so much better.” What would it be?

That’s a really good question. You know, I never do things the same way. It may end up that way. But however you can find the emotion in it, get the technology and all the bullshit out of the way and find the raw emotion and the meaning of a song and however you do that, it could be a vocal and just a guitar, even though you’ve got a hundred tracks in front of you. To tear it all down and find the basic thing that works and moves you and reminds you you have a soul and makes you feel something.

Go to that basic thing and find that, and then you can start cramming all the shit on. (laughs)

Wow. That’s great advice. Ed, I don’t want to take anymore of your time. I can’t thank you enough. You’re a gentleman and a scholar.

You’ve got it, Mark. Hang tough.

– Mark Hermann

NYC-based producer/artist/engineer/more Mark Hermann spends his life in the professional service of music. He has toured the world with rock legends, produced hit artists, and licensed music for numerous TV/film placements. Hermann also owns a recording studio in a 100-year old Harlem Brownstone. Keep up with him at his homepage.

Tags: audio engineer career advice, audio engineering apprentice, audio engineering internship, building an audio engineering career, career advice, Ed Cherney, L.A. music scene, mixer career advice, mixing, music producer career advice, music producer salary, music production in L.A., music production in Nashville, music production in NYC, Nashville music scene, NYC music scene

Audio Ease Releases Altiverb 7 for MAC

December 30, 2011 by David Weiss
/* Filed under Deli Feed, Deli NYC Feed, News */

3 Comments

Dutch software developer Audio Ease recently announced the release of Altiverb 7, the latest edition of their Mac-only convolution reverb for music and audio post.

Altiverb 7 was made with both music and audio post applications firmly in mind.

There are two versions of Altiverb 7. The Regular version ($595) is a native stereo in/stereo out RTAS-VST-AU-MAS plug-in that goes up to 96 kHz sampling rate. Altiverb 7 XL ($995) adds support for TDM (Mac only), I/O up to 5.1, and sample rates over 96 kHz. Both versions are protected using the iLok USB key, which can be added to any Altiverb 7 purchase at the discounted price of ($ 25).

Furthermore, the upgrade is free for all Altiverbs purchased in 2010 or later. All other owners of Altiverb 6 can upgrade for USD $215.

According to Audio Ease, new features of Altiverb 7 are as follows:

“The Impulse response (sampled spaces) library is more accessible then ever because of Altiverb’s new picture browser: quicker loading, organize-by-size, and single click favorites are among its features. Altiverb 7 looks and feels better. Often used controls all line up on the front, while the more exotic ones are in drawers beneath.

Keyword searching makes it easier to find the right space among the many hundreds of spaces Altiverb includes. Just type ‘brick studio UK’ or ‘small bed room.’

Altiverb 7 adds an algorithmic reverb that is closely fit to the impulse response. It can optionally add brightness and chaotic modulation in ways only synthetic reverb can while preserving the nature of convolution reverb.

The Impulse response library can be kept up to date from within the plug-in. The TDM structure has been heavily simplified, altiverb is now the only total recall convolution reverb (without the use of snapshots). It adds drag and drop impulse response making from sweeps, slate claps or anything experimental from piano chords to overhead thunder. Altiverb 7 is fully backwards compatible: you can open up any old project and it will load and sound the same as Altiverb 6.

Altiverb 7 supports 64 bits, is Intel Mac only for now, runs in all major VST Audio Unit and MAS hosts and in ProTools 8, 9 and 10 as a TDM plugin and as RTAS.

See and hear the highlights in the demo movie at www.audioease.com/altiverb.”

Tags: Altiverb, Altiverb 7, Audio Ease, audio post, convolution reverb, effect, mixing, plug-in, Reverb

The SonicScoop Year in Review: Top NYC Music Business News and Trends of 2011

December 27, 2011 by David Weiss
/* Filed under Music Biz */

Audient Announces New ASP4816 Compact Console

December 21, 2011 by David Weiss
/* Filed under News */

2 Comments

British manufacturer Audient is following up the success of its ASP8024 Dual Layer console with a new compact, cost-effective recording console – the ASP4816.

The Audient ASP4816 is a compact alternative to the large-format ASP8024.

The ASP4816 is due to ship in February 2012 and takes many design cues from the ASP8024, offering the same input and monitor design in a smaller frame size, with analog circuitry designed by David Dearden.

The main input channels of the ASP4816 feature Audient’s Class A preamp and 4 band EQ. The console features 40 faders, 16-bus routing, six auxes, two dedicated cue sends, four stereo returns, stereo bus compressor and a comprehensive monitor section.

The UK retail price for the ASP4816 is £8,950, or approximately $11,680 USD at today’s exchange rate.

Tags: analog, analog circuitry, ASP4816, ASP8024, Audient, compact console, mixing, recording

Analoginthebox Releases W735 EQ Plugin

December 12, 2011 by David Weiss
/* Filed under Deli Feed, Deli NYC Feed, News */

Studio Stories: Galuminumfoil Upgrade, Part II “After”

November 28, 2011 by David Weiss
/* Filed under NYC Spotlight */

2 Comments

As you recall, a few months ago Chris Cubeta, the multitasking/muli-instrumentalist co-founder of the busy Williamsburg recording/mixing/mastering facility Galuminum Foil, embarked on a serious upgrade of his studio. (If you missed Part 1 “Before”, you can check it out right here.)

The BEFORE shot of Galuminum's control room. Scroll down to see the transformation...

The plan was to ramp up control room workflow and equipment with a new 32-channel Neotek Elan console, better converters, and fresh treatments in order to maximize the performance of their 400 sq. ft. live room. How did his big ideas pan out? Now that the revamped Galuminum Foil is 100% functional, your wait for data — and images that don’t lie – is officially over.

The Battle Plan:
My plan for the redesign was not much of a plan, HA! I knew I had to get it done within a week so we could get back to work. Everything went pretty well until the “hurricane” hit. We had some fear of flooding so we had to put most of the equipment up on cinder blocks, which was a bummer since we had just gotten everything situated. FYI, we didn’t keep the studio open during the renovations.

Making it Happen:
The process was a bit like this: Galuminum’s Jeff Berner spent the week prior to the renovation trying to get our new computer, software and Lynx-Aurora converters to communicate with one another, which was a bit of a challenge but he forged through it and got it working.

The first thing we did to the room itself was completely empty it out. This meant removing all equipment, sound treatment, carpet and countertops. Following a trip to our local pub and a few hours of sleep, the next day we hung all of the rough cut pine on the walls. That pretty much took up the entire day. The following morning the new carpet was installed and then we moved the console into the room.

AFTER: Now starring the 32-channel Neotek Elan console, and a highly appealing new vibe.

The following three days were spent wiring up the console and all of our outboard gear, while simultaneously hanging the new sound treatment on the walls. At this point we are still making some minor changes to the room as we listen and get familiar with how things are sounding. Overall we couldn’t be happier. It really does sound quite good!

If I Knew Then What I Know Now:
To be honest, there wasn’t that much I would have done differently unless I had more money to work with. It would have been nice to have a proper tech for a few days to help troubleshoot some of the wiring issues.

Drum roll…The Result!
It came out GREAT! The combination of the console, converters and a better-sounding room is amazing. We are getting great sounds and we are honing in on our workflow. Myself, (and Galuminum staffers) Jeff Berner and Gary Atturio all have some projects that we’re really excited about.

Bonus Point:
Just a big huge “thank you” to all of the artists who have recorded with us. We work really hard to be good at our craft, so it’s nice that people appreciate that. Other than that, I just did a solo tour of Germany and a short run of dates with my friend Elizabeth Ziman opening for Sarah Bareilles. Next up: I plan to be in the studio for most of the winter working on records!

– Chris Cubeta, Co-founder, Galuminum Foil

Tags: Chris Cubeta, console switch, Galuminum Foil, Garry Atturio, how to renovate a control room, how to renovate a recording studio, how to renovate a studio, Lynx Aurora, mixing, Neotek Elan, Studio Construction, tracking

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Audio Ease Releases Altiverb 7 for MAC

The SonicScoop Year in Review: Top NYC Music Business News and Trends of 2011

Audient Announces New ASP4816 Compact Console

Analoginthebox Releases W735 EQ Plugin

Studio Stories: Galuminumfoil Upgrade, Part II “After”

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