I, for one, welcome our new digital overlords or AES 141

Introduction

When you write for a top drawer publication like Enjoy The Music, you fly first class. Here’s the view from the pool area of my hotel - shades of Blade Runner.

The Audio Engineering Society (AES) meeting has a very mellow, relaxed vibe compared to the frenzy that is the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) or indeed any high end audio show. It is a fraction of the size of that behemoth. You could easily see all the exhibits at AES in a morning whereas seeing all the exhibits at CES is physically impossibile - just too many exhibits. Besides, Las Vegas in January, where CES is held, is positively arctic. Whereas today in Los Angeles, we lived up to our reputation and it was lovely, warm and mild.

AES is a meeting of the guild for pros to swap experiences and make new business connections. The atmosphere is one of quiet seriousness. Oh sure, the equipment makers would like to sell you stuff like at any trade show but there’s also a lot of hail fellow, well met as old friends run into each other. That’s the big difference with CES where most of the attendees don’t know each other. At AES there’s nothing but people who’ve known each other for a lifetime.

You might suddenly find yourself sitting next to Bob Margouleff listening to John Storyk give of his four decades of experience building recording studios, starting with Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Lady or Lady as she’s affectionately known. OK, I am not a member of the guild. I am just a squirelly amateur who had never heard of Bob Margouleff before I sat next to him. He gave the keynote speech at the One Hundredth and Twenty Ninth AES titled What the Hell Happened? (this year’s AES being One Hundred and Forty One). He is Stevie Wonder’s engineer and a pioneer of the synthesizer (he was a buddy of Moog), which he programmed for Mr. Wonder. Is that Stevie going up the up escalator as you go down the down escalator? Why yes. Yes it is. That's the kind of place AES is. Living legends around every corner.

There's another big difference with CES: the presence of live musicians. They’re all over the place performing. How else are you going to show off your latest microphone? Whereas CES is all about recorded music so the music is mostly canned. The BURL guys were startled when I told them I used the BURL digital to analog (D/A) converter to listen to Compact Discs (CD). Why would you do that? they asked wonderingly. Their thing is to convert analog to digital (A/D). I mean they convert their Long Playing records (LP) to digital before listening to it on digital loudspeakers. They live digital. To them, I was the analog dinosaur magically appearing out of the mists of antiquity.

Everywhere you look there are consoles, consoles, consoles whether of the real kind or a virtual image on a wide display. Everything is Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) these days. The thought of using just two mics and recording the output to an analog tape recorder would seem outlandish to these kids. No-one, but no-one records that way anymore. (There is a wild rumor going round that some madman is setting up such a studio, but I wouldn’t put any store in it.) Now it’s all about tracking and mixing. Yeah, and compressing and EQ’ing. Yet straight to two track (or maybe three) is how recordings were made in what audiophiles consider to be the Golden Age of records.

DAW's everywhere

One thing has not changed. The acoustic in which you record is paramount. Hot tip from John Storyk. Do not. Repeat DO NOT perch your monitors on top of your console. The sound reflecting off the console results in a millisecond delay which acts as a comb filter that will totally foul up your mix. Put your monitors on stands just behind the console or mount them on the wall. Just anywhere but on top of the console. Here is the chart to prove it.

John’s talk was titled Living the Dream: Project Studios at Both Ends of the Spectrum. Why We Still Want Them and WHY We Still Need Them. And he really meant both ends. One studio he flashed on the screen was an old trailer that had been lined with some foam. Yet the young lady who owned it made a very nice living doing voiceovers. She had an excellent mic (a Royer) which she kept covered with a sock when not in use. Very important that. Do not leave your mic exposed when not in use. Either cover it with a sock or better yet, put it away in its case. Water and dust are your enemy.

I do not think John really addressed the question WHY We Still Need Them, but no matter. He gave of four decades of savvy. His laser like focus was on getting the acoustic right. And yet he said that architecture must come first (he is an architect by training). Music making is a product of the nervous system and even if the acoustic is perfect, you will get the better results if the musician feels comfortable in the environment.

(Tangent: Motown is the exception that proves the rule. Famously, a basement was the studio. Acoustically lousy, yet it was a hit factory. Quick - which band has outsold the Beatles, Stones, the Who and Elvis COMBINED? The Funk Brothers. They were Motown’s in house band and their beating heart was James Jamerson, the greatest bass player ev-ah. Played the bass on Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On - flat on his back! ‘nuff said.

OK. Tangent to a tangent. Explorer in deepest darkest Africa hears ominous drums in the distance and turns nervously to his guide:

Explorer: What are those ominous drums in the distance? What do they portend? What’s going on?

Guide: Relax, Bwana. Only the brothers practicing drums.

This goes on for several iterations with the guide calmly reassuring the explorer each time that all is well - until the drumming stops. The guide turns white as a ghost and his eyes are big as saucers.

Explorer: What? What now? Why are your eyes as big as saucers and why have you turned white as ghost? What’s going to happen now?

Guide: Bass solo. )

In a big room, standing waves are a non-issue. In a small room (which means most rooms these days), standing waves are the only issue. This applies equally to your audiophile listening room.

All the rooms John showed were dominated by the big console. His life revolves around how to fit the big console into the recording studio. His ideal was to put the speakers in the glass cuz the control room has to have glass so the engineer can see what is going on the studio. Or does he? Some of the greatest recordings ev-ah were done in a studio where the console was housed in a trailer outside the recording room. No amount of isolation treatment beats actual isolation.

It’s striking how it’s just taken for granted that the studio will have a big console. Does it ever occur to anyone to try minimal miking so that the musician is in charge of the mix? Well, I guess when you’ve got product to put out you can’t afford that luxury. I get it. It’s reassuring to think We can fix it in the mix.

According to John, when isolating a room, you can either go rigid on the ceiling or float it. Rigid is cheaper, but there’s a limit to the size of the ceiling. Beyond that you have to float the ceiling.

And remember to plug the back of the outlets! Otherwise you’ve just blown all that expensive isolation. The devil is in the details as in any construction project only moreso. He also talked about what he called social solutions. So instead of building a super expensive isolated room in an apartment building in mid town Manhattan, move to a forty acre farm in Woodstock. No need to block out the incessant noise of Manhattan. You’ve solved the isolation problem with a social solution.

After you’ve isolated your room, you have to tame its internal sonics. In a big room, that means minimizing standing waves. There are formulas for calculating the dimensions which will result in minimal standing waves or you can just use this handy chart. (Just make sure your room falls into the shaded area.) John didn’t think much of the Golden Ratio. Take that, George Cardas!

There are only three ways to treat a room: Absorption, Reflection, and Diffraction. Use a mirror to determine the spot where the first reflection lands. Have an unindicted co-conspirator slide the mirror along the wall until you can see your speaker. Put some absorptive material there.

John’s talk dovetailed perfectly with George Augspurger’s talk on History of Studio Acoustic Design. Turn out was disgraceful. The hall was barely twenty percent full. People, we’re talking the leading acoustician in all of the United States of America. Digital has conquered all. Digital is king. Everything's done in the box. Musicians? What musicians? We don't need no lousy steenkin' musicians! Why worry about acoustical space when all your musicians are electrons?

George once deigned to check out my humble listening room which being a converted garage was the dreaded square room. Asking George to check out a home listening room is like putting Albert Einstein to work as a dishwasher. After a few minutes with his handy frequency analyser, George fixed the one note bass problem (temporarily) by hanging up some blankets in a strategic position. His suggested long term solution was to get some big honking Tube Traps ®. The biggest they make. I’ve since moved on to another life and another listening room, but I still remember the magic that is George Augspurger. Amazingly, he still uses that hanging blanket treatment.

In this report, each manufacturer gets a separate page with the related pages grouped together, excepting the D/A got lumped together as did the schools.

Introduction

Mic Section

Royer Labs Page

AEA Page

Sanken Page

Josephson Page

Earthworks Page

Soyuz Page

Electronics Section

Fredenstein Page

Rupert Neve Designs Page

Radial Engineering (Hafler/Dynaco) Page

Sound Performance Lab Page

Nagra Page

Little Labs Page

D/A Converter (Bricasti, Benchmark, BURL) Page

Tape Section

ATR Magnetics Page

Recording the Masters Page

School Section

Blackbird Academy Page Sounds of Giants Page

Mogami Section

Conclusion

Mic Section

Royer Labs

2711 Empire Ave.

Burbank, CA 91504

USA

Telephone: +1 818-847-0121

Facsimile: +1 818-847-0122

Website: www.royerlabs.com

It is the legend and once more, it’s in LA. Remarkable that the two foremost ribbon mic makers, Royer and AEA should both be in LA.

R-122V: Tube Ribbon-Velocity for strings, piano, harp, guitar, vocals, brass, drum overheads, percussion.

SF-24: Active Stereo Coincident Ribbon for stereo and distance miking, choir, orchestra and string sections. Drum overhead. Room miking, horn sections, stereo acoustic piano or harp. Acoustic guitar, mandolin, other stringed instrument.

SF-2: Active Ribbon-Velocity.

SF-12: Stereo Coincident Ribbo-Velocity. Both SF-2 and SF-12 are for choir, overheads, horn sections, woodwinds, violin, cello and other stringed instruments. Acoustic guitar, mandolin, banjo. Additionally, SF-2 for voice-over and vocals. Additionally, SF-12 for percussion.

R-101 and R-121: Ribbon-Velocity for close miking, electric and acoustic guitars, drum overheads, kick drum, room miking, percussion, brass horn sections, strings solo and sections, acoustic piano, vocals, live events.

R-122 Mk II: Active Ribbon-Velocity for close and distant miking, electric and acoustic guitar, vocals, commercial broadcast, voiceover. Brass, horn sections. Drum overheads, kick drum, room miking. Percussion, strings, acoustic piano and harp. Live events - recording and sound reinforcement.

AEA Ribbonmics and Preamps

1029 North Allen Avenue

Pasadena, CA 91104

USA

Telephone: +1 626-798-9128

Facsimile: +1 626-798-2378

Website: www.ribbonmics.com

On the spectrum

Wow! Les Paul’s mic

R44C, R44CE: Reproduction of the RCA 44B/BX. The R44CE is audibly identical to R44C in a cheaper case. US $3,800 for the R44C. US$2,500 for the R44CE

R84: the workhorse. US $1,035.

R88 Mk2: Blumlein stereo mic. US $1,800.

A440: Phantom power.

Sanken Chromatic

Exclusively Distributed by plus24

1155 North La Brea Avenue

West Hollywood, CA 90038

USA

Telephone: +1 323-845-1171

Website:

www.plus24.net

or www.SankenChromatic.com

Very very fast condenser mics from Japan.

Josephson Engineering

329A Ingalls Street

Santa Cruz, CA 95060

USA

Telephone: +1 831-420-0888

Facsimile: +1 831-420-0890

Website:

www.josephson.com

You can count the number of American manufacturers of mic diaphragms on the

fingers of one hand - if you're missing a couple. Josephson is one of them. They

supply diaphragms to Manley Lab for their mics. N.B. while the Manley Stereo is

no more the Manley Mono is still very much in production and probably better

suited to today's multi-miking recording techniques.

Earthworks Inc.

37 Wilton Road

Milford, NH 03055

USA

Telephone: +1 603-654-2433

Facsimile: +1 603-654-6107

Website:

www.earthworksaudio.com

Craig Brekenridge, Product Specialist

The jolly Product Specialist started by showing me their measurement mics which

are used in specialized applications such as diagnosing a room's acoustics. All well

and good says I, but I'm really interested in the music.That's just it, saith he. Our

measurement mics are our music mics just minus some technical bits and bobs. Near-perfect omni polar pattern. You interest me strangely, says I for my plan is to

mix in a bit of room sound with the classic Blumlein pattern as necessary if and

when the classic Blumlein pattern sounds too austere.

QTC40: 40KHz omni. The workhorse. US $1,000

QTC50: 50KHz omni. The ultimate. US $1,350

Soyuz Microphones LLC

Telephone: +1 213-863-4540

Website: www.soyuzmicrophones.com

Russki mic salesman

Beautiful looking handmade Russian mic. Mmmmm. Toobs.

SU-011: Small diaphragm cardiod. Swappable for omni or hypercardiod. Will accept large diaphragm to give large diaphragm in a small body.

SU-017: Large diaphragm cardiod. Swappable for omni or figure eight.

SU-019: FET large diaphragm.

Electronics Section

Fredenstein Professional Audio

by Orion Communications Inc.

7F-1, 582, Ruei Gang Rd.,

Taipei, Taiwan

Telephone: +886-2-26572618

Facsimile: +886-2-26572610

US: +1 415-520-7610

Website: www.fredenstein.com

Mike, the production manager posing with my Mix Cube. I got the 16 to 2 channel version. With its modular construction, each board holds 8 channels so you can go up by increments of 8 channels as high as 32 to 2 and as low as 8 to 2. The Mix Cube has both MIDI and USB interfaces so you can either use a MIDI controller or a DAW to control the mix. Clever, huh? Separating the mixing engine from the interface. Personally, I intend to use the Reaper DAW.

Drei Herren von Deutschland

Juergen, Manuel, and Fred. Fred is the owner of Fredenstein. The youngsters are his European agents. They also have a relaxed looking studio, if you are ever in the Saarland and need a recording studio, Millstone-Sound awaits you. (Juergen is a bitchin’ guitarist in case you need a ringer. He said he wanted to see the real LA so I took them to Tommy’s at one in the AM. Tommy’s has been serving up the gooiest chili burgers® ev-ah 24/7 since the Truman administration.)

C. Wayne Hutch Hutchinson

Hutch came along for the ride too. Actually, drove is more like it. Then he told us he was night blind. Isn’t it just great to have decades old friends? And to make new friends, I hope.

Rupert Neve Designs

P.O. Box 1969

Wimberley, TX 78676

USA

Telephone: +1 512-847-3013

Website: www.rupertneve.com

The one. The only. Neve. Posing with the legend. Himself, not a cardboard cutout. Oh wait ...

Dept. of Disambiguation: Rupert sold his company to some large outfit which owns the name Neve. Rupert then started Rupert Neve Designs and moved to deepest darkest Texas. You’d swear you’re in a residential neighborhood.

More products than you can shake a stick at. Far too numerous to list here. Check out the website.

What is left to add to the Legend that is Neve? Yeah, some people want the sound of those old legendary consoles. So much so that the modern Neve’s have a Silk circuit built in that emulates the old sound. But I’m with Rupert. More accurate is more musical.

Manley Labs

13880 Magnolia Avenue

Chino, CA 91710

USA

Telephone: +1 909-627-4265

Website: www.manley.com

There she is, Queen of All Audio, EveAnna Manley herself. When Her Majesty enters AES, it’s a Royal Progress, sometimes taking a half hour to get from the front door to the Manley booth such is the press of the great unwashed to touch the hem of Herself.

All seriousness aside, EveAnna makes some bitchin’ pro audio gear with a sideline in hifi. All tube all the time. I myself own the Wave, the 440, the 500, the Skipjack, the Chinook and the Tape Head Pre-amp. The System That Time Forgot ® is a Manley Lab showcase. Oh, speaking of forgetting, I forgot I got the very last Manley Stereo Mic ev-ah. (Manley will continue to make the mono version, but alas, the stereo mic died of lack of interest. I mean what kind of maniac would record with just a Blumlein pattern these daze?)

Radial Engineering 1588 Kebet Way Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada V3C 5M5

Telephone: +1 604-942-1001 Facsimile: (604) 942-1010

Website: www.radialeng.com

A blast from the past: the Dynaco ST-70. Many an audiophile got their start building an ST-70 from a kit. Radial have brought this classic into the new century through the use of modern caps and resistors. The display was static so no way to confirm the claim that they had tightened the loose bottom of the original. Still in development with a target price of US $2,999.

Sound Performance Lab

SPL electronics GmbH

Sohlweg 80 41372 Niederkruechten

Germany

Telephone: +49 2163 9834-0 Facsimile: +49 2163 9834-20

Website: www.spl.info

Strange display with no attendants. You could play around with the gear. Sounded good.

Audio Technology

30A, ch. de l’Orio

1032 Romanel-sur-Lausanne

Switzerland

Telephone: +41 21-643-7245

Facsimile: +41 21-641-7532

Website: www.nagraaudio.com

Remote Audio

Nagra US Service

220 Great Circle Rd.

Suite 114

Nashville, TN 37228

USA

Telephone: +1 615-256-3513

Yes. Nagra. The legend. C’est Suisse et c’est très très précis.

A miracle of minituarization. Is it not a thing of beauty? The plot of the movie Diva revolves around a Nagra being used for stealth recording with pivotal scenes showing the Nagra in action. Alas, long out of production. Nowadays Nagra makes portable digital recorders.

Pictured is the slightly more expensive Mezzo US $399. Slightly more expensive that is than the entry level Pico (4 GB) US $299. Think of it. You too could own a legend for less than the cost of a meal at the French Laundromat.

Then there’s the top of the line SD US $995. Mics will run you an extra US $400. Of course, you can use your own mics.

All of ‘em can record in either MP3 or PCM. With storage so cheap why would you use MP3? 128 GB is US $40. I’m old enough to remember when a 5 MB hard disk went for US 5,000. And 5 MB sounded like a lot.

Steve George is all business. He will repair your tape recorder if you need it as well, of course, as all the new gear.

I have to say something. The way these grizzled veterans welcomed us squirelly amateurs was a delight. These are men who don’t suffer fools gladly and I was asking some pretty foolish newbie questions but they displayed infinite patience in learning the newbie. So kudos to the pros of the Audio Engineering Society. A nicer bunch of blokes you couldn’t hope to meet.

But also guys like Steve enjoyed talking to a coupla guys who enjoyed the music. As opposed to guys looking for the secret formula to making a hit record. There’s this disease going around where some engineers (typically but not necessarily younger) think that if they just buy the right piece of gear or apply some particular mixing technique the hits will pour forth. Exhibit A: the dearth of people attending John Storyk’s and George Augspurger’s talks about acoustics and studio design as opposed to the packed audience for The Special Sauce for Mixing a Hit Record. The sound of your studio is the foundation for everything or should be and here are two of the leading guys in acoustics and studio construction scattering pearls of wisdom hither and yon and barely anyone’s listening. Instead they want to take the short cut to riches by learning the Special Sauce. Not that there’s anything wrong with Special Sauce.

I morphed into my dad so slowly that I didn’t even notice.

Back on topic. As well as the battery powered models covered above, Nagra also make a couple of plug in recorders, the Six and the Seven. The Six sports eight tracks and the Seven two. The Six will set you back nine thousand five hundred United States Dollars while the Seven weighs in at three thousand three hundred.

Gadzooks! I’m gonna get a Pico just so’s I can own a living legend.

Nagra Six

Nagra Seven

They make a DAC (digital to analog converter). If you have to ask How much?, you can’t afford it. Ol’ two first names played us a recording they made at the Montreux Jazz Festival. B.B. King sounding mighty fine through PSI Audio A215-M speakers.

PSI Audio A215-M speakers

Lookin’ mighty fine in white. Rapping the sides, it seemed like some Corian like material. Bein’ Swiss, I made sure I was sitting down when I asked the price. Would you believe US $7K? I thought for sure we were going to break the 10K barrier.

Tangent.

God: Hello, Swiss dairy farmer. How are you enjoying my creation on this especially lovely sunny day?

Swiss dairy farmer: Well, sunshine is all well and good, but my pasture needs some rain.

God: No problemo for the Supreme Being, Swiss dairy farmer.

And God proceeds to produce rain.

God: Swiss Dairy Farmer, making rain is thirsty work even for the Supreme Being and I couldn’t help noticing you’ve just finished milking Bessie there and I wonder if I might have a glass of that delicious looking milk?

Swiss dairy farmer: Anything for you, Supreme Being.

So God drinks the milk and heaves a sigh of deep satisfaction. Feeling expansive, he offers: Anything else, Swiss dairy farmer?

Swiss dairy farmer: That’ll be be ten francs for the milk.

Remember the legend: C’est Suisse et c’est très très précis!

Little Labs

6711 Whitley Terrace

Hollywood, CA 90068

USA

Telephone and Facscimile: +1 323-851-6860

Website: www.littlelabs.com

Jonathan Little bears a passing resemblance to Don Van Vliet. Did anyone ever see them together? I mean before Mr. Van Vliet passed on. I think it’s the goatee and the glasses.

Monotor Front and Back

When he isn’t impersonating Mr. Van Vliet, Jonathan makes a bitchin’ lil’ headphone amp called the Monotor (sic). Mr. Van Vliet’s background, I mean Jonathan’s background is in mastering at A&M amongst other studios. The Monotor with its insane gain is designed to allow a mastering engineer to hear deep into a recording and correct any flaw that may be present. It will reveal everything and I do mean every lil’ thing, good or bad. IMHO, more accurate equals better sounding. It is a false dichotomy between more accurate and better sounding. When you think about it, how could more accurate not be better sounding? I mean the most accurate is the original live sound. It’s just that some things have been called more accurate when, in fact, they were just more etched.

(Dept. of revelation: I bought one for myself, but Jonathan had no idea I was going to do a write up. No quid pro quo in other words. In fact, I’m listening now. It is sooooo good. I’m using Koss Porta Potty’s. Jonathan uses Sennheiser HD600s with Cardas wire.)

I was using a miniplug to miniplug cable to connect my computer to the Monotor. Strongly recommend using a miniplug to XLR cable (available from ProAudioLA.com who also sell the Monotor). There was a slight edge to the miniplug to miniplug cable that disappeared after switching to the miniplug to XLR cable. Plus using the XLR inputs on the Monotor activates the gain on the Monotor which is disabled when using the miniplug input.

The two headphone jacks on a Monotor each has its own separate amp. Plus you can daisy chain a bunch of Monotors together in case you want to throw a headphone partei. Powering the whole show is a monster power suppy. Behind every good sounding component, one finds monster something whether it’s the monster caps in Manley Labs power amps or the monster capstan motor in a Studer A80.

Note well, little brothers, the Monotor power supply is linear and must be manually switched to the correct voltage, unlike a switching power supply.

There’s more. There’s more.

Redclound. A balanced attenuator pack.

PCP Instrument Distro 3.0. Switchbox for instruments.

Lmnopre. Mic pre. Geez, everyone and his uncle makes one of these.

Pepper. Grand Central Station connects instruments, effects and DAWs.

IBP. Phase tool.

VOG. Short for Voice of God. Close micing of kick drum and bass - without the close micing.

STD Mercenary. You might want to reconsider that acronym, Jonathan. Instrument cable extender/splitter.

Redeye 3D Phantom. Direct box/ Expandable Pre-amp.

IBP. Phase alignment tool.

Don Van Vliet + crew

D/A converter page

Bricasti Design, Ltd.

2 Shaker Rd, Bldg. J100

Shirley, MA USA 01464

USA

Telephone: +1 978-425-5199

Website: www.bricasti.com

Benchmark Media Systems, Inc. Floor 2 203 East Hampton Place Syracuse, NY 13206

USA

Telephone: +1 315-437-6300

Facsimile: +1 315-437-8119

Website: www.benchmarkmedia.com

BURL Audio

240 Feather Lane

Santa Cruz, CA 95060

USA

Telephone: +1 831-425-7501

Facsimile: +1 831-621-0769

At this level, it becomes a matter of taste which D/A converter you prefer. I’d pick the Bricasti, but it is much more expensive than the BURL or the Benchmark.

Tape Section

ATR Magnetics

385 Emig Road, Suite A

York, PA 17406

USA

Telephone: +1 717-718-8008

Website: www.atrtape.com

At 10 kHz Reference Frequency

US $100 and change for a reel of half inch.

Recording the Masters

9 rue Blaise Pascal

22300 Lannion

France

Website: www.mulann.com

North American Distributor

Don Morris

P.O. Box 340

New Buffalo, MI 49117

USA

Telephone: +1 847-812-5727

Website: www.rmgi-usa.com

This is the one you want: Agfa 468

Tons of excitable Frenchmen (is there any other kind?) and one grizzled stone cold American pro by the name of Don Morris.

Don Morris learns a squirelly amateur

Don claims theirs is better than the original 468 with better top end. That’s possible. Wonderful though the 468 be in all other respects, it could strike the untutored as dull, especially compared to Ampex 456. But that’s just its neutral character. It doesn’t sizzle. It tells the truth.

Now Don gets into ancient history. The original machine made the tape in one process binding the rust to the backing simultaneously. That machine remains stuck in concrete in Deutschland. These guys are based in France so they had to go to a two step process where the backing is made first and then the rust is stuck on to the backing in a process aptly described as growing rust. The result is a desirable polishing of the tape resulting in a lift in the top end. US $95 for a half inch reel.

Speaking of polishing, I said I got some lightly used tape from some religous outfit whose name escaped me at that instant. Oh, the Scientologists, Don says.Just sold 'em thirty five thousand reels. All I can say is God bless the Scientologists for supporting analog tape.

Mulann’s partner AM Belgium makes magnetic heads for the Studer A80, A800, A807, A820, and A827 including a butterfly type. Hmmm, might get me some spares. I’m all about having a big spares bin

School Section

Sounds of Giants

Telephone: +52 5512959813

Website: www.soundsofgiants.com

Kick back in Mexico with Diego Rivera lookalike Erick Urbina Toranzo. Your dollar goes further in Mexico.

the blackbird academy

Professional School of Audio

2806 Azalea Place

Nashville, TN 37204

USA

Telephone: +1 615-385-2423

Website: www.theblackbirdacademy.com

Ron DiCianni

ron@theblackbirdacademy.com

Founded by John McBride, owner of Blackbird Studios, the Blackbird Academy gives thirty students an intensive seven hundred hours of hands on instruction over twenty four weeks, learning by doing. There is one program for Studio Engineering and one program for Live Sound Engineering. Both cost US $21,900.

Start dates: January 9, April 10, July 10, and October 2 of 2017. Students must have graduated high school or have a GED, pass an Audio Knowledge exam, submit two letters of recommendation from an audio instructor or pro and two 500 word essays.

They have a seventy two track Neve 8078 - there’s that name again plus a collection of one thousand four hundred mics, fifty vintage and new amps, thirty vintage drum kits and fifty vintage snares. I’m suspecting that the school and the studio are just a rationalization for the mic collection. But, honey, I need this heinously expensive U47 for the studio doncha know.

Studio Engineering Program

Week 1: Intro, Listening, Recording, Careers & Professionalism. Thirty hours.

Week 2: Signal Flow, Mixing Consoles, Careers & Professionalism. Thirty hours.

Week 3: Studio Orientation. Twenty five hours.

Week 4: Tracking the Band in Studio. Twenty five hours.

Week 5: Microphones. Thirty hours.

Week 6: Musical Instruments and Mic Techniques. Thirty hours.

Week 7: Tracking the Band in Studio. Twenty five hours.

Week 8: Tracking the Band in Studio. Twenty five hours.

Week 9: Tracking the Band in Studio. Twenty fie hours.

Week 10: Acoustics and Signal Processing. Thirty hours.

Week 11: Tracking the Band in Studio. Twenty five hours.

Week 12: Hearing, Audio Illusions/Superstitions, Studio & Monitor Design. Thirty hours.

Week 13: Guest in Studio. Twenty five hours.

Week 14: Tracking and Mixing in Studio. Twenty five hours.

Week 15: Musical Business & Careers. Thirty hours plus ten hours Final Project Studio Time.

Week 16: Modern Music Production. Thirty hours plus ten hours Final Project Studio Time.

Week 17: Signal Processing in the Studio. Twenty five hours.

Week 18: Guest in Studio. Twenty five hours.

Week 19: Mastering, Manufacturing, Advanced Mixing and Signal Proecessing. Thirty hours plus five hours Final Project Studio Time.

Week 20: History of Recording. Live Sound. Advanced Mixing & Signal Flow Processing. Thirty hours plus five hours of Final Project Studio Time.

Week 21: Fundamentals of Music & Electronics for Engineers, Audio Restoration, Advanced Production & Recording. Thirty hours plus five hours of Final Project Studio Time.

Week 22: Guest in Studio. Twenty five hours.

Week 23: Capstone. Thirty hours plus five hours Final Project Studio Time.

Week 24: Tracking and Mixing in Studio. Twenty five hours.

There is a lot of Tracking the Band in Studio. For those of you like me who don’t know what that means, it means familiarizing yourself with the studio and the band.

The Live Engineering Progam is completely different starting with Live Stage Set-Up. ‘course the big difference is you only get one shot in live work hence Basic Soldering Skills. Only for those with ice water in their veins.

Mogami Section

Mogami

MIT Inc.

Mondo Umegaoka Bldg. 2F, 1-33-9

Umegaoka, Setagaya-Ku

Tokyo 154-0022

Japan

Telephone: +81 33-439-3755

Facsimile: +81 33-439-3877

Website: www.mogami-wire.co.jp

Phil Tennison, Product Manager Cable/Connector Division

Telephone: +1 800 800-6608

Direct: +1 310 333-0606 x 1112

Mobile: +1 310 469-2890

Website: www.mogamicable.com

www.soundrunnercable.com

Times are tough at Playboy

Mmmm. Mogami

Great cable, but they make so many different types. If only someone would explain the Mogami zoo. Hugh Hefner to the rescue.

2497: The ultimate RCA cable. i.e. unbalanced.

2549: The truth in RCA cable.

2534: More forgiving than the above two. A little warmer and good in severe noise situations.

2901: Lapel mic. Very thin, light, and flexible.

2964: Video signal, but highly flexible.

And many, many, many more. Call Hugh, I mean Phil, for more explications.

I would say that besides great sound, the hallmark of Mogami is flexibility. It doesn’t fight back like some audiophile cables.

Definitely in the scientific cable camp. No truck with audiophile cables. Marketing was the dismissive adjective.

Conclusion

What the Hell Happened? as a bemused Bob Margouleff was heard to say at AES 129. Digital, Bob. Digital happened. When the mixing engineer is replaced by a robot we will have arrived at the completely digital product.

LA is still the center of the recording universe. A diminished center perhaps, compared to its heyday and the trajectory is downwards, but still the center. We have the soundstages. Once visited Warners (the movie studio as opposed to the music company). They had a movie dubbing studio with ten, count ‘em, ten Voice of the Theatres in a row. Now that’s impressive. I felt like I was about to be invaded.

Here’s the thing: the sound budget on a movie is a rounding error, but a rounding error on a really big number. So the sound studios at a movie company are lavish beyond the wildest dreams of the biggest record company. They had recording machines out the wazoo. They were using one as a doorstop fer Chrissakes.

Second, we have the stone cold pros on both sides of the mic. Went to see the filming of Shelby Lynne’s The Magnificent Room as an extra. (Usually extras get paid, but we had to pay them. It was so wrong.) Top live sound guy running the board. Forget his name, but the producer told us he was a top live sound guy. And Don Was on bass. Sure you could put together this same group elsewhere, but it’s just so much easier in this town when everyone’s here already. I mean the backup singers were stone cold pros, man. They could just belt out a tune on cue. Of course, it’s tougher now with Spotify but the ranks have been replenished by an influx of refugees from the Bay Area’s insane rents.

They played Morning Sun and Strange Things. You can hear them on Shelby Lynne’s website with her signature hauntingly plaintive quality. It’s a mystery why she isn’t a country superstar. Displays all the things country purports to prize. Deeply personal stories sung with conviction. Sung with that signature plaintive Shelby Lynne sound.

She came out for a meet and greet. Heart stoppingly beautiful lady up close and in person. In her photos and from the back of McCabe’s, she’s one of those women who come off as sorta pretty, but up close she’s stunning. Penetrating blue eyes. Very friendly, but intense. Those penetrating blue eyes. She’s got that stone cold laser stare. JJ Cale had it. Clint Eastwood definitely has it.

We thank our Fearless Leader ® The Steven for giving us this chance to cover AES for Enjoy the Music ®. He has graciously granted permission for this report to re-appear in this here our blogtaculous blog Bob and Ray Throw a Stereo Blogtacular ®.

As always, file your libel suits directly with our Big Law legal beagles at Dewey, Cheatham and Howe LLC. Saves everyone time and trouble if you go direct and cut out the middleman (that would be us).

p.s.