Waves Announces New Mic Emulation Plug-ins: The King’s Microphones

Waves has announced The King’s Microphones plug-in set.  The King’s Microphones feature emulations from three one-of-a-kind microphones that were handmade for three very majestic persons: Queen Elizabeth, King George V and King George VI.

Waves has this to say about their new offering, available now for MSRP: $99.

Used exclusively by the royal family for speeches on momentous occasions, each of these three priceless microphones dating back to the 1920s and 1930s was tailored and tuned especially for its specific user: King George V, King George VI, and Queen Elizabeth.

Beautifully designed and decorated with gold, silver, and chrome adornments bearing the royal coats of arms, each is a one-of-a-kind aesthetic masterpiece with its own distinctive sonic character. The King’s Microphones plugin offers stunningly accurate recreations of the originals’ unique frequency responses, with three proximity settings for each.

Discovered deep within the vaults of EMI outside London by Peter Cobbin, senior recording engineer at Abbey Road Studios, the microphones were used to record music and dialogue for the film, the first time they had been used by anyone outside the royal family.

Cobbin, who worked closely with Waves on the development of the plugin, commented, “It was exciting to know we had the very microphone used by King George VI, the central character of this film, and I thought how appropriate and inspiring it would be to have the microphones present at our recording sessions. The royal microphones are works of highly-skilled craftsmanship.”

Review: Waves OneKnob Series Plug-Ins by Zach McNees

Any engineer who’s had the privilege of working in a beautiful, spacious recording studio with a huge mixing console and loads of expensive outboard gear has inevitably at one time or another heard the following sentence from an artist or musician new to the facility: “So, do you really know what ALL those knobs do?”

Being an engineer meant that yes, you did know how to work all those knobs, dials and faders and you looked good doing it because it showed just how technically minded you were!

Most of the time, however, engineers don’t look for the most technically complex way to make something sound great. They’re looking for the best sound and the easiest solution so no one else in the room has to wait as they patch, dial and tweak their way to the desired result.

In this spirit, Waves has done away with the complexities and complications that bog down so many plug-ins with endless possibilities, parameters and variables. The solution? OneKnob. Waves has created a bundle of seven plug-ins, each of which do one task and do it well while being extremely easy to use.

TECH SPECS: The Waves OneKnob Series is available as a native plug-in supporting RTAS, Audio Suite, VST and AU format for PC or MAC.  Mono and stereo components and support for up to 24bit/96khz resolution are standard (two of the units go up to 192khz). The plug-in comes standard in Waves flagship Mercury Bundle and is also available a la carte for $320.

WHAT IT DOES: The OneKnob series is comprised of seven units that serve a wide range of sonic enhancements to your tracks with one simple adjustment knob – Brighter, Driver, Phatter, Filter, Louder, Pressure and Wetter.

THE INTERFACE: As simple as it gets!  Beautiful design that is slightly reminiscent of the classic Moogerfooger style units with one simple knob. Two of the units (Filter and Pressure) also have a selector switch for a few variations on their sound. They really are that simple!  Seven plug-ins, seven knobs.

IN USE: One of the most interesting things about this bundle is that each plug-in isn’t simply designed to increase or decrease the amount of one parameter the more you turn the knob. It’s clear that the algorithm in certain units is changing and evolving at each step of the dial creating a different sound than one normal knob would allow. I got the chance to use these plug-ins on a couple of mixes for songwriters with full bands. The OneKnob came in handy on many different occasions across a great deal of instrumentation and voices. Let’s take a look at these units individually and see what they have to offer…

BRIGHTER

Brighter focuses on the top end of the EQ spectrum, simply making your tracks brighter! Waves refers to this unit as “an intelligent treble booster that adds brightness from the midrange on up.” The unique feature of this plug-in is that the further up the dial I go, the sound doesn’t simply get brighter and brighter. The first few notches 0-4 have a reasonable amount of high mid range and the higher up the dial I go, the less mid range is boosted and the more top end “air” type sound is present.

If Brighter had a display like the Waves Renaissance EQ you would notice that turning the knob up did not just increase the amount of brightness but also drove the notch further up the frequency spectrum. This intelligent design allows the entire range of the knob to be useful making “Brighter” one of the most unique EQ’s I’ve ever used.

Working on a new single by Boston artist Rebecca Muir, I was impressed to find just how different the sound of a finger-picked acoustic guitar was at each range on the “Brighter” dial. The first few notches bring out the high midrange tones of the instrument with just slight amounts of top end.  As I continue turning up, the high midrange is dampened and replaced with the airy sound that really brings out the strings. On a close-miked cello, the subtle features of Brighter are even more apparent.

With very little high midrange qualities to the cello, Brighter is almost unperceivable from 0-5 and only begins to show itself after 5 on the dial where the very top end of the bow sound begins to take shape. Very impressed with Brighter.

DRIVER

Driver encompasses everything from light grit to full-on heavy distortion depending on how far you go up the dial. Like Brighter, Driver is a plug-in that is constantly evolving. On clean lead electric guitar licks, Driver does an excellent job of adding subtle amounts of overdrive to the sound with a sound very natural to the amp itself. One downside here is that Driver does tend to filter out a lot of top end, softening the sound a great deal the more you increase the processing. A good workaround for this is to use Driver as a parallel bus and sneak in the dirty stuff with your original sound.

There are a wide range of uses for Driver from simple guitar and bass DI sounds for demos and scratch tracks to an excellent array of effects for quick and dirty lo-fi sounds on vocals, drums, piano and anything else you can imagine.

PHATTER

…is described as “Brighter’s heavier set brother” but is one of the simpler plug-ins in this bundle. Phatter simply increases the low end and warmth to the sound it’s inserted on. The frequency range is somewhere around 100Hz and doesn’t seem to change much based on how high you turn up. I will note that the subtlety here — as with all the plug-ins in this bundle — is appreciated. Depending on how thin your sound is, it is conceivable that the very top notches of Phatter would still be a possibility unlike some units where the very top limits are completely stratospheric and unusable.

Phatter is particularly helpful on a top snare mic to increase the perceived warmth and low end of the sound easily and without too many problems. On a mix for Ukulele sensation Julia Nunes, Phatter was the perfect quick solution to beef up the kick drum on our drummer’s kit.  Electric guitar, piano and virtually any other instrument recorded too thin can benefit from Phatter. While not as complex as some of the other plug-ins in the bundle, Phatter is a quick and easy solution for tracks and instruments that need a boost in low end and warmth.

FILTER

Filter is a low pass filter knob with a twist. The interface features a resonance button which defaults to “Moderate” and can also be set to “High,” “Extreme,” or “None.” With no resonance, Filter is simply a very quick and easy low pass filter that’s useful on kick drum, bass DI and any other instrument sources where you want to focus the low end in your mix.

The resonance features allow Filter to act more as an effect for DJ’s and electronic musicians on synths and loops and could easily be seen as a great live tool. Out of the seven units here, Filter saw the least amount of action in my mixes but did prove quite useful on an inside kick drum mic to pull the snap out of the sound extremely quickly.

LOUDER

Louder is a dynamics processor that uses low-level compression and automatic makeup to increase the RMS on tracks with weak levels by up to 24dB. This is an excellent tool for quickly leveling out a 2nd mic used on a guitar that’s noticeably lower or quickly boosting tracks without having to crank the fader or search around for a trim plug-in.

As simple as this sounds, Louder really does do an excellent job at increasing perceived loudness without any noticeable saturation or unwanted side effects. This is a fantastic tool that will prove extremely helpful to both experienced mixers and novice musicians needing to give their demo tracks a boost.

PRESSURE

Pressure is by far my favorite unit in the bundle. Pressure is essentially an easy-to-use parallel compression and sonic enhancement plug-in. Along with the single knob is an input switch allowing to pad or boost the signal to the compressor which defaults to the unity position. Slap this baby across your drum bus and you will hear the difference almost immediately!

The extremely fast attack and release compressor sound gives Pressure the ability to add huge depth and explosiveness to drums and especially room mics even in small rooms. Electric guitars and rock piano sound fuller and richer with small amounts of Pressure treatment.

Unlike a lot of the other plug-ins in this bundle, Pressure really isn’t very subtle. A little goes a long way with this OneKnob unless you’re in “Pad” mode. Although useful on an instrument’s main insert or bus, Pressure can also be of great use as a parallel bus mixed in with dry signal to allow for more control over  the sound.

WETTER

Wetter is the Waves OneKnob version of a reverb and ambience plug-in. The manual explains that “different points on the scale are optimized for different source materials.” In essence, the more you increase the Wetter knob the more reverb and ambience your source material is soaked in. 

One surprising aspect of Wetter is that the first few notches from 0-3 actually seem to be a slight delay effect of a ¼ note triplet pattern with slight feedback. The more you increase Wetter, the less delay and more straight reverb appears in the signal.

I also noticed that the delay pattern is specifically effected by the tempo of your DAW session giving you a more pronounced, longer delay effect at lower tempos and a shorter, snappier delay at faster tempos. On the whole, Wetter works well at adding space and vibe to acoustic guitars, vocals and almost any instrument in need of ambience.

I do feel that, in general, the reverb feels a little too shiny with too much top end, which tends to give the sound source a less natural and more obviously effected reverb sound. It would be helpful to have a switch here for top end roll off or a multi-switch allowing for a few different general ambience algorithms such as “Short,” “Medium,” “Long,” etc.

TO BE CRITICAL: Certain plug-ins such as Pressure, Driver and Filter can often overload the output if the source material is too hot. An output trim switch would be helpful on these units as this is something that I’ve found myself adding below the plug-in to reduce the output gain before the fader.

WRAPPING UP: I was really impressed by the sounds I was able to achieve with these plug-ins and the speed at which I was able to do it. Some engineers consider bundles like this cheating. I consider them simple solutions to simple problems.

The OneKnob Series is incredibly easy to use, of course, but it’s the quality of the sound that is so indicative of the Waves brand. It’s very clear when you open up one of these units and begin experimenting that a great deal of thought and care went into designing each plug-in. In some ways I feel that Waves really hasn’t given these plug-ins their due credit by calling them “One Knob,” as a number of the units are doing very complex things to the sound that changes based on where you’ve set the knob.

And what’s most commendable is the fact that the OneKnob series is a set of plug-ins that can be useful to both complete novices and seasoned professionals achieving great results at a price that everyone can afford.

Zach McNees is a Brooklyn-based producer/engineer/mixer and live recordist who’s worked with Bjork, Rob Thomas, The Gregory Brothers, Pixies, Liars and Alice Cooper. Get in touch with Zach via www.zachmcnees.com.

Session Buzz: Who’s Recording In & Around NYC — A Monthly Report

GREATER NYC AREA: Both through the grapevine and straight from the source(s), we’ve been hearing about a number of different recording projects going on in studios throughout the NYC area. The following is but a sampling of recent sessions, and works in progress…a snapshot of what’s going on around town:

Germano Studios has been going non-stop in 2011, between multiple months of lock-out sessions with Lady Gaga, and sessions with a host of other major artists.

Gaga and crew have been working out of both Germano Studio 1 and Studio 2, recording and mixing her upcoming album, Born This Way – due out May 23 – and the title track lead single, released in February.

Also – as previously reported – T-Pain was also at Germano Studios, recording vocals in Studio 2 with Levar “LV” Coppin producing and Javier Valverde engineering. And producer Steve Jordan and engineer Dave O’Donnell were in tracking basics with Kelly Clarkson and writing/recording with Keith Richards.

Meanwhile in the Brill Building, KMA Music has been going strong, with Beyoncé locked out Studios A and B for writing, recording and mixing sessions for her new album with an array of producers – The-Dream, Switch, Robert “Shea” Taylor, Jeff Bhasker – and engineers, including Swivel, Pat Thrall, Serge Nudel. Mya also booked out KMA for tracking and mixing sessions with producer Chuck Harmony and engineer Ben Chang. And Joe Jonas tracked and mixed material for his new solo project with Danja producing and Marcella Araica engineering. Lil Wayne was at KMA for a late-night vocal session as well.

In Brooklyn, producer/engineer Tim O’Heir has been holed up in his “Golden Ear” studio in the Music Garage in Williamsburg mixing the upcoming Austin TV double album epic. Austin TV, according to O’Heir, is “an instrumental group from Mexico City who compare themselves to Mogwai but with more ‘theatre.’

“The tracks were produced by Meme from Cafe Tacuba in Mexico and they FTP’d the Pro Tools sessions to me here in NY. It’s been a trip as these pieces are 100% math rock. The trick for them, and myself, was to get them as musical sounding as possible. (I think that was accomplished.)

The tracks were mixed in the box, summed through a Dangerous D-Box. Waves and Sound Toys as well as a few Digi plug-ins brought the whole thing to life.”

Nearby at The Bunker in East Williamsburg, Aaron Nevezie tracked and mixed the debut album by the Williamsburg Salsa Orchestra. This is an 11-piece traditional salsa band tracked live, playing fresh arrangements of indie-rock songs by LCD Soundsystem, Arcade Fire, Spoon and more. Nevezie also produced new releases for local Brooklyn bands Des Roar, and Crinkles, and mixed Peoples Champs.

The Bunker is also excited to have added a 1969 Steinway M grand piano and a new pair of vintage RCA ribbon mics to the studio.

And down in the financial district, Engine Room Audio has been popping with projects up in its SSL 4064G+ equipped penthouse tracking/mixing room, including G-Unit’s Tony Yayo and Waka Flocka tracking a new single with engineer Drew Fisher. Sean Kingston and Trav also mixed a new single at Engine Room, with engineer Sam Jacquet. Indie rock band Lowry just wrapped mixing on their new full-length album for Engine Room Recordings, with Mark Christensen producing and Fisher engineering. And “indie-pop-on-Mozart quintet” Wakey! Wakey! has been in recording for an upcoming Engine Room Recordings compilation.

Down in his mastering suite, Christensen’s been working on a new OK Go! live album, mixed by Dave Fridmann, as well as a new album by The Color Bars. Christensen also recently mastered the new Ryan Leslie single, “Glory,” and a new record by Cheryl Englehard.

Inside another popular NYC mastering haunt, The Lodge, mastering engineers Emily Lazar, Joe LaPorta, Sarah Register, and Heba Kadry have been busy with releases by Serg Tankian and Shirley Manson, Against Me!, The Naked and Famous, and Chris Taylor’s newest production work on Blood Orange’s upcoming 7″. (Lazar and LaPorta also mastered Foo Fighters’ Wasting Light!)

Other albums recently mastered by The Lodge crew: Tune-yards’ w h o k i l l, Fucked Up’s  David Comes To Life, Ford & Lopatin’s Channel Pressure, Cold Cave’s Cherish The Light Years, EMA’s Past Life Martyred Saints, Liturgy, Xray Eyeballs, Eternal Tapestry/Sun Araw, White Hills and more.

Back uptown at Area 51 NYC… singer Vita Chambers was working on a new release for Universal Motown with producers CJ, Carl Sturken and Evan Rogers, and Henry “Skem” Kaprali engineering, assisted by John Lurie. Also for Universal Motown, Gail Scott was in session working with producer Kenneth “Soundz” Coby and Michelle Figueroa engineering. French house DJ/producer David Guetta was at Area 51 co-producing new material with CJ, and engineer Dan Smith, for Guetta’s own Gum Productions.

Area 51 also installed new Augspurger mains in the North Room. Says Area 51 co-owner/manager Tony Drootin: “We purchased the dual 15” cabinets and subs that used to reside in Studio D at Sony Studios. We replaced all the components, added a new crossover, and tweaked the system to our room.” He also reports that Area 51 is now configured for drum tracking out of the South Room, and has added some new mics and outboard gear to its arsenal.

Nearby at Avatar Studios, the city’s most famous “Studio A” hosted… a duet by Tony Bennett and Sheryl Crow, produced by Phil Ramone, and engineered by Dae Bennett; Elvis Costello recording a song for an upcoming film with engineer Kevin Killen; and James McCartney recording new material with David Kahne producing and Roy Hendrickson engineering. Meanwhile in Studio C, Steve Reich / So Percussion recorded with producer Judith Sherman and engineer John Kilgore.

At Threshold Recording Studios NYC… singer/songwriter Alana Kessler worked on her new single “The Best Thing” with producer/engineer and multi-instrumentalist Jeremy Sklarsky; composer / PBS producer Tim Janis prepared for his upcoming annual Christmas show at Carnegie Hall with Alexa Ray Joel; and Bad Company drummer Simon Kirke was back as part of the Road Recovery Performance Workshops Program.

And finally, Stratosphere Sound hosted New Jersey indie rockers The Static Jacks for a month, recording their debut full-length in Studio A with producer/engineer Chris Shaw. R&B legend Aaron Neville also recorded vocals at Stratosphere recently with Geoff Sanoff in Studio A.

And Amanda Ghost, producer Dave McCracken and engineer Andros Rodriguez – long-term clients in Studio B – have been working with female rapper KFlay, singers Sky Ferreira and Murray James, as well as John Legend.

And we know there’s so much more going on out there! If you’d like to be featured in “Session Buzz,” please submit your studio news to submissions@sonicscoop.com.

Waves Unveils OneKnob Plug-ins

Waves Audio announces the new OneKnob series, a set of seven plug-ins, each providing a particular effect controlled by a single knob.

OneKnob plug-ins feature Waves’ audio processes coupled with their simplest interfaces to date, delivering quick results and solutions for studio and live sound work. As Waves puts it: “Hooked up to a hardware controller, mixing has never been this fast — or this much fun.”

OneKnob plug-ins can be used in the control room, the DJ booth, or when mixing a live show — whenever users don’t feel like tweaking loads of parameters, and want to stay focused on the music and simply dial up some great-sounding effects.

The series includes OneKnob Brighter, OneKnob Phatter, OneKnob Filter, OneKnob Pressure, OneKnob Louder, OneKnob Driver and OneKnob Wetter. Waves describes them as the following:

OneKnob Brighter: An intelligent treble booster that adds brightness from the mid-high range on up, Brighter is perfect for brightening up a track or making it cut through the mix.

OneKnob Phatter: Phatter is a bass booster that provides a quick way to add bottom, weight and body to bass, keys, kick drums and vocals alike, to thicken them in the mix.

OneKnob Filter: From the mixing room to the DJ booth, Filter is a powerful sweepable filter with switchable Resonance modes, perfect for full mixes, loops, analog synths and more.

OneKnob Pressure: From light, parallel-style compression to pumping and squashing, Pressure is a versatile dynamics processor, ideal for percussive sources like loops and drum busses.

OneKnob Louder: Using a combination of peak limiting and low-level compression with automatic makeup, Louder effectively makes tracks louder, increasing RMS by up to 24 dB.

OneKnob Driver: Inspired by famous guitar overdrive pedals, Driver is capable of everything from light overdrive to full-on distortion. But it’s not just for guitars; it sounds great as an effect for vocals, piano, synths, drums, bass and more.

OneKnob Wetter: From short, bright ambiences that are felt more than heard, to longer, darker spaces, Wetter adds instant depth to any track, creating the perfect atmosphere.

The OneKnob series is Native only and available as a bundle for $400 (MSRP) or as single plugins for $80 (MSRP) each. OneKnob Series SoundGrid includes six plugins (Louder, Pressure, Phatter, Brighter, Driver, Filter) and is available for $600 (MSRP).

For more information, visit www.waves.com.

WAVES Announces Modeled Plug-In Version of APHEX Vintage Aural Exciter

WavesAudio, in association with Aphex, has announced the release of their modeled plug-in version of the original Aphex Aural Exciter.

The new plug-in is officially called the Waves Aphex Vintage Aural Exciter, and is based on one of the two original tube-powered prototype units developed by Aphex during the mid-seventies. The Waves Aphex Vintage Aural Exciter modeled plug-in delivers all the unique character of the rare hardware unit, with the advantages of being software-based.

The original classic hardware version of the Exciter was highly regarded for its ability to increase and enhance presence, brightness, and detail on vocal tracks and masters.

The Waves Aphex Vintage Aural Exciter will be available separately (U.S. MSRP USD $250Native/$500 TDM) and as part of the Waves Mercury bundle.

Mix and Zen with Bob Power: Musings of an NYC Music Master

FASHION DISTRICT, MANHATTAN: If you could burrow inside the mind of Bob Power, chances are it would sound mighty good in there. For this softly-spoken but hugely influential member of the New York City production scene, music is always the message.

Certainly, just the track record of this multi-multi-platinum GRAMMY-nominated, Emmy-winning producer/mixer/engineer composer/professor/Yoda would be enough to warrant an interview: dig on D’Angelo, Chaka Khan, Meshell Ndegeocello, Ozomatli (2002 Grammy “Best Alternative Latin Album”), De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, Miles Davis, the Roots, Macy Gray, Curtis Mayfield, David Byrne, Spike Lee, The Brand New Heavies, Maceo Parker, Pat Metheny, KRS 1, Run DMC, PBS, Coca Cola, Mercedes, AT&T, and the hundreds more people and things that grace his client list.

But the impetus to reach out, and have a pow-wow in his cozy downtown mix suite is bigger than that. Even a shallow investigation into the NYC music and sound creation landscape will uncover a Disciple of Bob. What top audio pros can name him as a mentor, motivator or friend? It’s easier to count the ones who can’t.

The longer I talk to music pros around NYC – producers, engineers, mixers – the more I hear, “Bob Power taught me this. Bob Power was my mentor and he said that.” So many roads seem to lead to Bob Power. Why is this?
I very humbly respond that it’s often difficult for me to say, “I know best.” My way of doing things is only one way of doing things. What you’re hearing is  partly due to longevity. I’ve been doing this for long enough, and I try to be supportive of people coming up. Still, I’m amazed by the fact that you say that.

It’s odd to look up and realize that you’ve been doing this — recording and producing music — for 40 years. I started out playing, and I played for a living for 20 years with  guitar as my primary instrument. I scored TV for seven years on the West Coast, then came back to New York here where I got heavily into industrials and jingles – then from the late ‘80s and 90’s, almost exclusively records. I was trying to do both for a while — big records and scoring for big clients like AT&T and BMW, but it was killing me.

If there’s a thread that runs through all this stuff, it’s that I have seen audio production from all of these different angles. Many of them are musical — purely musical – and many of them are technical. Both are fascinating for me: I grew up as a musician, and I have two degrees in music. A dirty secret is that I’ve never taken an engineering course in my life.

Nonetheless I’ve learned a great deal about music engineering and music recording. One thing I’ve realized teaching music and recoding is that you have to think of it as music first. I often get asked, “Wow, I love your kick drum sound. How do you record it?” But music is a moving target, and people forget about that. So when people get into electronics and physics, they forget that every day is something different. A C9 is never the same twice.

I’ve come to a place with producing, recording and mixing music that is very music-oriented. At the same time,  I happen to love things where the sound itself is as interesting as the music is. But the music always has to come first.

What’s the opposite of that? If the music isn’t coming first, then what is?
Engineers on the way up sometimes put themselves and their engineering into the process too visibly, and it can get in the way of people’s creativity. I can only say that because I did that a lot, myself. Now, it’s more important to me to make the recording process as transparent as possible.

It’s all about understanding the part of the process you’re in at any given moment..When I’m writing, I have to force myself not to perfect my parts. I do a lot of programming and sequencing, and not perfecting is a very conscious decision. It reminds me of what I have to do with someone who’s in creative mode. I keep things moving forward.

Momentum – creative, musical, and productivity – are key. The only time you’ll see me getting steamed is when people are on the studio floor (during a session) and some piece of gear isn’t working, because the creative energy of those players is the most important thing at that time. It’s the same as asking someone to play something too many times – the spark, the vitality goes out of it.

We don’t listen to records to hear the right things in the right place. That’s nice, but with the mechanics of records – taking soundwaves into the transducer of a mic, storing it onto an analog or digital medium, and then doing the reverse trip to listen back – being able to hear any emotion in that is a modern miracle. That’s the thing that’s kept so many of us recording geeks so amazingly fascinated for so long.

Turning off that “perfect” button is definitely something I have a hard time doing. How do you manage to do it?
I have learned that perfect is not always good. As musicians, when we come up and try to get our chops together, we lose sight of the inner push that makes the music come alive. I’ve been fortunate enough to work with some real genre-bending, genre-creating artists, and realizing that they were right about a lot of things they pushed me toward. They didn’t want it perfect — perfect was too 1987!

All the musical experience one has contributes to who you are as a music practitioner, whether it’s as a recordist or a player. As a kid, I beat the guitar with some guts. It may not have been in tune, but my primary impetus at the time was feel. You do something for enough years, all that stuff coalesces.

Another thing is that my taste in what I like to listen to has veered from perfect. Perfect is nice – I grew up listening to and loving Steely Dan like many people – but what I try to do now as a music producer is to make music breathe. Among other things, I’m really into dynamics, which is not to say I don’t like compression: I may master things loud. It has to be competitive, for what it’s worth.  But what I’m talking about is musical dynamics; how an arrangement unfolds.

There needs to be an inner dynamic to a song where it’s allowed to rage and sit back, rage and sit back, An example is the contrast between the chorus and verse; it’s part of the drama of music.

Another big issue – the expression I use- is, “I don’t hear any blood on those tracks,” — it’s a nod to the Dylan metaphor. The most compelling music I hear has the blood. It doesn’t even have to be screaming; it can be soft. It can be Kate Bush. But you need to hear the emotion, the blood behind it.

That’s a vivid way of putting it. Can you point to a project that you’re currently involved in that’s calling that out?
Every gig is about that. #1, as a producer, I don’t take gigs unless I think someone has something special to say. If I do, I expend all my energy going where they live. One long-standing relationship I have on a musician and human level is Meshell Ndegeocello, who’s influenced me tremendously as a person and a musician. There are certain things she does that she doesn’t necessarily try to do, but  like any great artist, that’s just what and how they do.

All the people I’ve worked with – D’Angelo, Erykah Badu, COPE – their music has taught me lessons about things, and not always verbal lessons. In my relationship with Meshell, certainly what she does musically and what I do as a mixer work together very well. If you listen to (the 2003 album) Comfort Woman, that’s a good example of that. In general, we have a great mutual respect for what the other does. For most of her music making, I stay out of the way and let her do her thing.

She knows what my proclivities are as a mixer, and lets me get it to a certain point. What I say to most of my clients is, “Let me work with it for a while, then get it to a point of departure,” like “This is what I meant to do.” Then pick up from there.

I think it’s debilitating for an artist to hear a kick drum for an hour – and I don’t do that anymore either. Now, I tend to work in concentric circles. I used to say, “Gotta get the kick perfect. Gotta get the snare perfect.” But I’d say the results and process are so much more rewarding if you get to a state of niceness, do a circle around, then circle around again.

That’s an important theory of creativity for me. It allows us to:
#1 – stay fresh,
#2 – not lose sight of the big picture, and
#3 – the next time you come back around, it’s as if you’re hearing it for the first time. That allows you a much greater degree of objectivity. It allows one to be spontaneous where that is called for, and clinical where that is called for.

Has there been an evolution in your tools – or the way that you’re applying them — to get there?

Whether you use a shovel or an EQ, if you do something for 40 years, you change the way you do things. For me, without a doubt, the biggest evolution is digital – which is not to say that I’ve given up on analog.

My viewpoint on digital mixing is that the tools are there, and our biggest job as practitioners is to stop complaining that “it doesn’t sound like analog.” It never will! And there are some things that digital does better.

I made a commitment to digital three or four years ago, although today I don’t mix entirely in the box. I have an expensive two-buss chain with Pendulum, Tube Tech, API, Prism gear. But if I’m mixing in my studio, I don’t use analog inserts on individual things. I may, if something is very poorly recorded – which is more often than not these days – send that out and record it through an analog chain of my own. I’ve found that with the tradeoff of what one gains through the fattening-up process of one pass in, one pass out – there’s no contest versus not doing it.

A big issue is that because the tools have become available to the Average Joe and Joan, and the user interfaces have been refined, there’s almost no such thing as a tracking engineer anymore. Thus the things that come to me for mixing are often not really easy to deal with sonically. The people are very well meaning, but as you know, things don’t always come out the way one intended.  When you boil it down, here are three things that you need to pay attention to in recording, and everything will come out pretty well.

Please remind us!
#1 – the instrument and the player. No one can do that much about the player – people are at the stage of evolution that they’re at, and that’s fine. But people don’t do enough to prepare an instrument for recording. Intonation, consistency of timbre, tonal uniformity across the dynamic range of the instrument are all big pluses in the recording.

The instrument is so often overlooked in the recording process. The band comes in, and everyone is unhappy and depressed because the guitars are out of tune. The drums don’t sound so good, the bass doesn’t sound so good. But more often than not, if you prepare the instruments you’re home.

When I worked with session musicians, I thought I was a great engineer, but then I realized these people’s instruments were chosen because they sound really good in the studio. My own guitar collection is 15 or so, for example, but there’s only five or six of them that I use in the studio.

#2 — the mic preamp. Everyone thinks it’s the mic, but I can make a really good record with a great preamp and the Shure SM57, my desert island mic. The Telefunken 251 is right on the heels of that.

#3 – mic placement. This is a longer story than we have time for right now.

A lot of people reading this probably agree, but wonder how this pertains to them if they’re using synths, soft synths – any manner of virtual instruments…
As one who did scoring for years and had racks of MIDI instruments that I had to reload, I know that virtual instruments are a huge factor in music – you turn on your computer, hit the space bar, and everything comes out.

The way in which virtual instruments fit into the above equation is about the intent in the choice of which ones you choose. You start to get to know the character of all the packages, modules, manufacturers – they’re all instruments of their own. There are four or five different Minimoog emulations, for example, and they all sound a little different.

But anyone who does a lot of recording knows that what specific instrument you pick for a given application is huge. I teach recording and arranging at NYU, and my students often grumble about the fact that I make them work with in-the-box instruments; and  expect them to sound really good. The real lesson is that, just as an orchestrator or an arranger with real musicians doesn’t write them something  that would be awkward – like certain notes for clarinet or tones for cello – you have to take the same attitude with virtual instruments. That’s where you say, “Wow, that patch didn’t sound good for fast runs, so I’ll use it for pads.”

It’s the same with digital sound processing tools. Even though the McDSP is my go-to EQ, the Waves packages have different characteristics that may, at a given time, be more appropriate. Just like guitars – there are things that I may go to more often because I know that they are very adaptable, other times because they have a very specific character. By now I know the character of my digital tools as well as the analog tools that I’ve used for a long time.

I’ve noticed that you bring up your post at NYU a lot, in this conversation and others we’ve had.
First of all, I consider myself very fortunate to be part of a higher education system. The Clive Davis Department, to a person, is full of fantastic human beings,and tremendously experienced practitioners who really care about the students first. But as with anything when you teach, you really learn as much as your students; You have to create succinct,  understandable terms for complex processes that you may have been doing intuitively.

I really think it’s important for teachers to break things down into simple components. For example, I love the astrophysicist who teaches you about the universe with a paper cup. I’m into that same type of immaculate simplicity.

It’s also nice to be able to interact with so many talented people and help them along the way. Teaching has informed my humanism, which, as I get older, becomes the really important goal as a human being. Fifteen guitars are nice. GRAMMY awards are nice. Stature is nice. But it’s really about helping people, and that informs everything I do now.

As an instructor, what are you observing about the next gen of music people that are coming up? Are we going to be in good hands?
I can only speak for the people at NYU. I can say that their musicianship and studio skills are off the charts. They know so much more about what it takes to make a good record than where I was at that age.

Things are so much open now. When I was growing up there were only four or five genres and a precise way of producing them. They are much, much broader in their visions than I am, and you just can’t believe the cool things they do.

So here’s the $500 question for Bob Power: Is this the best of times or the worst of times in music?
Both.

It’s a time of great, great change. With the consolidation of the majors, everyone is ruing the downfall of the record business. The main thing that’s really changed is the economic underpinnings of it. But out of changes, there’s always a new way that comes. In regard to the business of recorded music, I say to my students at NYU, “I can’t tell you how it’s going to be. You’ll be the ones to invent that.”

This is the best of times and the worst of times. Financially, the cash flow and throughput of the recorded music business has been decimated, literally by powers of 10. At the same time, there is a new order that’s forming. What is the revenue stream of recorded music is really the crux of that whole issue. On the creative side, though, because the tools are more affordable and the user interfaces are better, there’s a huge breadth of creativity that we wouldn’t have seen ten years ago from people making music.

On the dissemination end, the Web has leveled the playing field, because there are no filters out there anymore. That’s good and bad. No longer is it that only things in the mainstream system get through, but it’s bad because…where do you start in your search for your music? But that’s evolving as we talk. It’s as exciting as it is terrifying.

It really boils down to revenue streams for recorded music; that filters all the way down to bands and solo artists. If bands can’t sell their music online, and the idea is that one gives away their music which brings people to shows – that’s great, but who will they pay to record their music? If you want to involve people who are really good, that costs money.

Here we sit in one of the music centers of the galaxy, discussing all of this. Where does New York City fit into The Big Picture, in 2011?
What can you say? NYC is the most fascinating, alive, multi-faceted organism that I know. Just on that level alone, the music that comes out of here is going to be pretty interesting.

Even with the retrenchment of the major label business, I think that the New York/Nashville/LA markets will always support healthy industries in music. But being in those locations is less important than it was. Thanks to digital communications, I mix and master a lot of music for people I never see. And boy are they making some cool music! It’s unfettered. It’s not affected by the winds of trend. It’s a very pure thing. People are making music because they have to, they love to, and they want to so much – rather than because they want to be rich and famous.

That’s where we all started — and that whole concept is very important to the way I approach my relationships with my clients. No matter how tired you are, no matter how many times you’re required to do the same things over and over, you have to remember how great it was the first time you recorded music. How exciting it felt. We all need to remember that.

– David Weiss

Waves To Release Modeled Plug-In Version of Aphex Vintage Aural Exciter

At Winter NAMM over the weekend, Waves announced the upcoming release of their modeled plug-in version of the original Aphex Aural Exciter.

The “Waves Aphex Vintage Aural Exciter” plug-in is based on one of two prototype tube-powered units developed by Aphex during the mid seventies.

The original Aural Exciter traveled from studio to studio as an exclusive (and expensive) rental unit, bringing its distinctive sound to select sessions. Highly regarded for its ability to increase and enhance presence, brightness, and detail on vocal tracks and masters alike, the Aural Exciter was credited on albums by Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt and James Taylor, and said to be a sort of hardware “session player.”

Visit www.waves.com for more information.

Waves Cuts Prices Across Entire Product Line

As part of “an ongoing strategy to make its products more accessible and reach an even wider audience,” Waves has released new pricing across their entire product line.

Beginning January 2011, Waves is announcing price changes that are at an average of 40 percent lower then the 2010 price list MSRP.

Recognizing that its users and prospective users are working “in an era when hit singles and award-winning recordings are being created anywhere and everywhere,” Waves is taking a more progressive approach to pricing and developing other promotional activities such as free live events and online webinars to appeal to a wider segment of the market.

Check out the new MSRP pricing on all Waves Bundles, HERE: http://www.waves.com/content.aspx?id=90. And stay tuned for additional opportunities from Waves.

For more information, please visit www.waves.com.

Waves Audio to Receive Technical GRAMMY Award

Waves Audio has learned that it will be presented with a Technical GRAMMY® Award during the GRAMMY Week celebration in February 2011.

The news was made public as part of The Recording Academy® announcement of its Special Merit Awards recipients, with Waves Audio as a Technical GRAMMY Award® honoree. A special invitation-only ceremony will be held during GRAMMY Week on Saturday, Feb. 12, 2011, and a formal acknowledgment will be made during the 53rd Annual GRAMMY Awards telecast, which will be held at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles on Sunday, Feb. 13, 2011.

With this presentation of the Technical GRAMMY®, Waves joins a previous recipients which includes such well-known names as Apple Computer, Inc., Sony/Philips, Shure Incorporated and Yamaha Corporation.

This Special Merit GRAMMY is awarded by vote of the Producers & Engineers Wing Advisory Council and Producers & Engineers Wing Chapter Committees and ratification by The Recording Academy’s National Trustees to companies that have made outstanding contributions of technical significance to the recording field.

Review: Waves CLA Classic Compressors & Eddie Kramer PIE Compressor and HLS EQ

As the necessary adaptations and skills for producing and mixing in the box have become more and more ubiquitous, users are looking for more unique digital tools which carry over the unique sonic personalities of their analog counterparts. Personally, I’m always on the lookout for new plug-ins or virtual instruments that will give the end listener as much of an organic and analog aural experience as possible.

Any modern engineer is of course familiar with Waves who have been at the forefront of plug-in design from the very beginning of the DAW age. Many of the Waves plug-ins have become modern classics in their own right. Of late, Waves has shifted a lot of attention towards the trend of modeling classic analog gear. Within the last few years, we’ve seen them introduce emulations of the de-facto API, SSL, and Neve analog pieces that engineers and producers have used for decades.

Continuing that trend Waves has recently introduced two new lines of classic emulations:

CLA Classic Compressors

In collaboration with the luminary engineer and mixer Chris Lord-Alge, Waves has modeled four of his personal go-to compressors:

1.  The CLA-76 “Bluey,” modeled after the silver-face blue-stripe revision B version of a famous solid-state FET based compressor from the 1960’s.

2.  The CLA-76 “Blackie,” modeled after a later version (revision D-LN) of a solid-state FET based compressor from the 1970’s

3. The CLA-2A, modeled after a famous tube opto-compressor.

4. The CLA-3A, modeled after a well-known solid-state opto-compressor

Kramer PIE Compressor and HLS Channel

In collaboration with legendary engineer/producer Eddie Kramer, Waves offers modeled versions of:

1. The PYE compressor. A solid state compressor manufactured in the 1960’s by Pye Telecom, an English company. Used predominantly in Olympic Studios in London during the 60’s and 70’s.

2. A Helios channel EQ, complete with input amplifier modeling.  Based on the second generation silver-face channels, including the rare and original Lustraphone transformers.

Waves has a an extensive 8-12 month long process of testing and modeling each hardware unit in order to capture all of its characteristics before delivery to the end-user. This modeling process is exhaustive, and presents many challenges. A simple emulation of the circuit design is not enough, given that the inherent personality of each unit is exemplified by the non-linear response of each of its component parts.

Waves goes to great lengths to model these distortions and idiosyncrasies in a way that is both convincing and CPU friendly.

Obviously, given the continuously variable nature of a piece of analog hardware, a tremendous amount of data can be generated running different types of signal through a hardware unit, and not all of it can be reproduced. However, as a user will not typically employ the full dynamic range of a unit, it is easier to model a “sweet-spot,” or a set scale of amplitudes.

Once this data is collected, it is then fed into a complex harmonic distortion algorithm that can interpolate those unique response characteristics across the full dynamic range of the unit. It sounds complex, and is, but thankfully, better heads than mine are developing this software, and so I am left to just twist the knobs and enjoy the results.

With that said, over the last couple of months I’ve been fortunate enough to add these plug-ins to my ever-expanding arsenal of vintage emulations and I must say that these have become some of my favorite tools to use.  They behave as you expect the original hardware models to, and offer excellent emulations of the overt eccentricities that engineers have always found so appealing about them. Additionally, there are very CPU friendly and can be used liberally without too much concern for processing power.

CLA-76

Waves offers two flavors of the same compressor topology in this plug-in: “Bluey,” based on an earlier (blue-stripe revision b) version of the 1176, and “Blackie,” based on the later revision D-LN iteration of the same model. Both are exact models of two of Chris Lord-Alge’s favorite units.

They offer the same familiar interface with input and output levels, variable attack and release times, compression ratio (4:1, 8:1, 12:1, 20:1, ALL), metering preferences, and a compression bypass switch.

Waves also adds analog noise and hum, which can be bypassed completely or set to create hiss and a very low level DC hum at either 50 or 60 Hz; and depending on your nationality I suppose, you may find one or the other more familiar.

The major differences between the two compressors are most easily perceived in levels of distortion and noise. “Bluey” distorts more easily than its counterpart, yet has a lower level of hiss than “Blackie” when the analog section is engaged.  Conversely, the 50-60 Hz hum is virtually inaudible in “Blackie.”

I should emphasize that this hum emulation is very subtle in both cases overall, and you certainly would not find it distracting should you choose to leave the analog section engaged.  If anything, I found it pleasing as it reminded me of days spent behind an analog console.

Ironically, after so many years working digitally, it seems I now miss the higher noise floor I used to spend so much time trying to diminish.  As with their hardware counterparts, these compressors have very fast attack times (slowest setting is 1 ms, fastest up to 50 microseconds) and thus lend themselves well to material in which a more aggressive approach to controlling dynamic range is in order.

Given the aforementioned differences, it is up to the user to decide what works best in a given situation. I have more often found myself attracted to using the Bluey version of the plug simply because of the attitude it imparts.

Inserting this plug on a lead vocal or drum room mics and engaging the “all” button instantly gives an explosive and in-your-face quality that is at once familiar and very exciting, and radical changes to the resulting sound can easily be accomplished with very subtle adjustment of the input level.

On the other hand, you can easily back the ratio and gain off and have a more subtle version of the same thing. Of course, this is what one expects from a compressor, but I was struck at how musical it was, and how many different colors were achievable in quite an overt way. I found Blackie a little more useful in situations where I wanted a lot of control over the sound, but with a little less coloration; bass guitar being a good example, where often one wants to employ a healthy amount of compression without adding too much fuzz or loss of low end to the signal.

I often used Blackie on piano and vocals as well, offering an audible compression effect without compromising a clean signal and totally eliminating all dynamics of the source.

CLA-3A

This is a model of a famous solid state opto compressor, first introduced in the early 1970’s.  It offers a very simple control set:  An input level control, a peak reduction control, a switch that lets you choose between limiting and compression, a metering selector switch, a high frequency control, and the added feature of the Waves analog controls which are detailed in the above description of the CLA-76.

The high frequency control deserves a little bit of extra attention: It is used to adjust how the compressor responds to certain frequencies.  When set to “flat” the compressor applies gain reduction to all frequencies equally. As the control screw is turned counter-clockwise it begins to apply less and less gain reduction to frequencies below 1 kHz.

This is very useful for situations in which too much low end information is affecting the way higher frequencies are being compressed, useful when there is lot of lowend-air in vocal that needn’t be filtered out, but affects when and how hard the compressor attacks.

The CLA-3A obviously does not offer a variable attack and release time, and while being relatively quick with an attack time of 1.5ms, does not match the wickedly fast attack of the CLA-76. It offers extremely transparent operation, and is perfect for vocals and instruments like electric guitars. However, my favorite application for this style of compressor has always been drums. It seems to have the perfect inherent attack and release time for them, and when applied, instantly provides you with a nicely emphasized slap as well as a lower mid-range thud that sounds fantastic.

[A word from Waves product manager Mike Fradis: “Although the attack and release times do not offer control, by the nature of an opto detector, it creates a program-dependent Attack and Release time that take into account the history of the program played, so hot signals will have faster attack and longer release times while lower signals enjoy slower attacks and faster release. This is the Magic of opto compressors.”]

Once again, the CLA-3A offers an excellent emulation of the hardware unit, offering a subtle harmonic distortion and a nice smooth compression.  It has often found a place in my recent mixes, tapping the tops of the snare drum.

CLA-2A

This is a model of perhaps the most ubiquitous tube opto-compressor in the engineering world.  First introduced in the early 60s, this compressor uses an opto cell as a peak detector and features a unique 2-stage release characteristic.

This emulation offers all the same controls as the original, along with the Waves analog control options.

At the time of its introduction, this compressor was well-loved for its very transparent operation, with relatively little harmonic distortion.  Of course today, in the digital world, any harmonic distortion is a coveted character flaw, and is far more conspicuous than it once was.

Like the original, the CLA-2A offers a very transparent compression curve (around 3:1), as well as a slow attack time (around 10ms). It will also offer a nice warmth and even a slightly edgy distortion when driven hard. Of course, the 2A lends itself very well to vocals and other materials where post transient control is desired.

I have most often used these compressors on vocals and bass.  In this virtual incarnation, the 2A performs admirably well in this capacity, imparting a subtle and controlled smoothness to vocals, as well as a nice warmth when driven hard.  When used on bass, you can go from very smooth to tight with a slightly distorted edge, just like the hardware counterpart.

Kramer PIE Compressor

This was the only plug-in in this review with which I don’t have extensive experience with the actual hardware unit.  So I won’t be able to offer a comparison, but rather an impression of the plug-in itself as a standalone entity.

The controls are standard compressor fare: a threshold incremented in 2 dB steps, an output gain control, release options from 100 to 3,200 ms, and 5 different compression ratios (1:1, 2:1, 3:1, 5:1, and limit).  Additionally, you have the familiar metering options as well as the Waves analog options.

The first thing you notice when instantiating this plug-in is the noise.  It is actually loud enough to be distracting in some quieter passages.  That said, it is of course, a matter of taste as to whether to leave it switched on or off. Given that it’s an exact model, one can assume that the hardware unit is actually this noisy, so for authenticity’s sake, it is available should one desire.

In use, I found this to be a wonderful sounding and flexible compressor. Depending on the release time you choose it can be either conspicuous or transparent. It reminded me of a lighter-weight Neve 2254, that is to say it offers a similar control over program material, but with a little less of that Neve heaviness.

I found myself using it on acoustic pianos — it gave them a nice extra weight with more pronounced attack. It definitely added some nice transient squash-and-pump without sounding too aggressive.  However, I found it great for drums as well, I’m a big user of parallel compression schemes, and I used this compressor very successfully in this manner; putting the unit in limit mode with the fastest release time really does a great job of getting that “big” drum sound with some nice squashed transients and plenty of room brought in, mixing that signal back in with a dryer drum kit got me some great results.

Ultimately, this is a great sounding compressor with a lot of potential uses, certainly not a one-note device, and definitely worth investigating as an additional flavor to add to the arsenal.

Kramer HLS Channel

Last but certainly not least is the HLS channel — this was a serious favorite and I am using it a lot! Modeled after a classic Helios channel there are three bands of EQ:  a high end boost/cut at 10 kHz in 4 db steps, a parametric boost/cut mid-range control with frequency selections between 700 Hz and 6 kHz, and an interesting bass control which offers boost at set frequencies between 60 and 400 Hz, or a 5-15 dB cut at 50 Hz.

The mid control offers a switch that designates whether the pot will cut or boost the selected frequency.  These are some slightly unusual controls, but take very little adaptation.  Additionally, there is a wonderful input amplifier model with a mic or line impedance selector.  This does not add any gain, but allows you to dial in more or less harmonic distortion.

The remainder of the controls are made up of input and output gain, the waves noise generating section, and metering controls.

This is a wonderful EQ, and I had success with it on virtually everything I tried it with.  The high end is fantastic for a plug-in and has an effect similar to that of the Neve 1073, that is to say that a little goes a long way, and it instantly cleans up a muddy source without any harshness to speak of.

The midrange is just as kind and natural sounding, you don’t have to work too hard to get a good result that doesn’t sound “EQ’d.”  The same goes for the bass controls.  In use, this was fantastic for adding some smooth high-end sparkle to a dark vocal, or bringing out some nice low end punch on a kick drum, or even the entire drum kit for that matter.  The input amplifier control is fantastic, and if you are using it on several components of a mix, you’ll definitely start noticing a thicker, gluier, and more analog character to the overall sound.  The HLS is a new favorite and I’m very happy to have discovered it!

In Conclusion…

Overall, I really have enjoyed using these plug-ins — they have become indispensable tools in my plug-in collection. All I have to do to be reminded of this is imagine how successfully I’d be able to recall any mix I’ve done over the past couple of months without them…which I don’t want to imagine. Waves has done a wonderful job in the design and the sonic results speak for themselves, and at this price you get a good amount of bang for your buck, especially given the total cost of the actual hardware.

Special thanks also to Mike Fradis, product manager at Waves who answered lots of my questions about the Waves development process.

I strongly recommend demoing the plug-ins from Waves, which can be done at no cost, and investigating for yourselves. It will be well worth the effort! Click to demo/purchase the CLA Classic Compressors (right now for TDM: $996; Native: $498) and/or the Eddie Kramer PIE Compressor and HLS Channel EQ ($540 for the TDM Combo; $270 for the Native Combo but they’re also available individually.)

Bo Boddie is a Grammy winning engineer/producer and composer who has worked with Santana, Everlast, Korn, Reni Lane, and many others. He is currently beginning work on Imperial Teen’s second release on Merge Records.

« Previous Page — Next Page »