New Music Gear Monday: Radial Firefly Tube Direct Box

Many musicians and engineers take the lowly direct box for granted and settle for the cheapest one they can find. That can work okay on some instruments, but if you really need some real low end, you have to spring for something more expensive.

For years now Radial Engineering has been the king of the direct box hill with their fabulous JDI, and now they have something for the people who want the warmth of a tube with their new Firefly tube direct box.

The Firefly differs from other direct boxes (tube or passive) in that it has two inputs, each with it's own gain control. These can be selected from a footswitch so you can have two separate setups for a guitar and bass, for example. There's also a variable high pass filter, and unique parameter called Drag that's basically a load corrector so the "feel" of the DI is more like a tube amplifier.

The Radial Firefly retails for $599.

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"Here Comes The Sun" The Unheard Solo

Here's a great video that shows the value of a producer. It's a video of George Martin, his son Giles, and George Harrison's son Dhani listening to the tracks of George H's seminal "Here Comes The Sun" from one of The Beatles greatest albums - Abbey Road.

In the video you'll hear them soloing the individual tracks from the song, and then Dhani unmutes a guitar solo from George that wasn't included in the final track. As they marvel at it, you then also hear a Minimoog part that wasn't included as well.

Both of these parts are great in that they're performed well and add a lot to the song, but a producer's job is to sometimes pull in the reigns and say, "Enough" and not include a part because it takes a song in a different direct. George M obviously did that, and these parts were lost for decades before they were uncovered in this BBC documentary.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter and Facebook for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

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The $695 USB Cable

Audiophiles are the most gullible group of people you'll ever find, falling for any flowery language that alludes to "resolving the finest detail," or "refining the transparency." I've posted about the $500 wooden volume knob and the $8500 speaker cable before, but this one takes the cake.

The Absolute Sound recently posted a buyers guide on USB cables. Okay, that's fair enough, except that these expensive digital interconnects are touted to improve your sound, which is a total crock of you know what. It's digital and it's USB! The one that comes with your hard drive will work just as well as long as it's not defective.

For a good laugh, read the entire article. In the meantime, here's a sample of the snake oil below.

AudioQuest Diamond
0.75m, $549; 1.5m, $695
audioquest.com
This über-expensive USB cable is simply revelatory in its combination of ease and refinement on one hand, and resolution and transparency on the other. Although capable of resolving the finest detail, Diamond USB has a relaxed quality that fosters deep musical involvement.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

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How To Build A Song's Groove

The groove is the pulse of the song and every song has one, regards of the genre of music. The stronger the groove, the more people relate to the song, so it's really important to make sure that the groove is emphasized during a mix. Here's an excerpt from the latest 3rd edition of The Mixing Engineer's Handbook that shares some tips on how to find the groove and make it strong in your mix.

"While it’s true that sometimes the groove may be the result of a single instrumental performance, usually it’s built around the interplay of a number of instruments, especially in complex mixes with a lot of tracks.

Normally the groove of the song is provided by the bass and drums, but it’s important to determine if another instrument like a rhythm guitar, keyboard, loop or percussion is an integral part that makes up the pulse of the song. Usually this can be easily identified as an instrument that’s playing either the same rhythmic figure as the bass and drums, or a multiple of the rhythm, like double time or half time. After those additional rhythmic elements are discovered, here’s one way to build the groove:

1. Find the instrument that provides the basic pulse of the song (like the drums).

2. Add the lowest frequency instrument that’s playing the same or similar rhythmic figure (usually the bass).

3. Add any additional instruments playing the same or similar rhythmic figure in order of frequency from low to high.

4. Add any instrument playing a similar rhythmic figure, like half or double time.

5. Add any instrument working as the rhythm arrangement element (remember the section about arrangement elements in Chapter 5?) and providing motion to the song (like a shaker or tambourine).

The groove may be attributed to only a single instrument, like in the case of a power trio (guitar, bass and drums) to three or even four instruments on rare occasions. If you’re not sure, the best way to determine what’s playing the groove is to try mixing in different combinations of instruments along with the rhythm section to see if the pulse gets stronger, weaker, or stay’s the same. 

TIP: If a new instrument adds to the pulse of the song and the pulse seems lessened if it’s muted, then you have an instrument that’s a big part of the groove."

You can read additional excerpts from The Mixing Engineering Handbook and other books by checking out the excerpts section of bobbyowsinski.com.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter and Facebook for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

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Company Presses Human Ashes Into Records

Here's something for the passionate lifelong musician who wants to be part of music beyond the grave. A company called And Vinyly (rhymes with "And Finally") will take your cremated remains and press them into a 12 inch vinyl record complete with the music of your choice.

The service isn't cheap at $4,600 for 30 records, but when you think about it, this may make more sense that having your ashes sitting in an urn somewhere.

According to an article on BusinessWeek.com, the service has only been provided to four customers so far, but those stories are fairly interesting. One supposedly was for a DJ who's family wanted him "to be played at his favorite clubs a few more times." Another was recorded telling jokes about his family. To each his own, I guess.

All I can say to this is here's to one more thing that you can't do digitally.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Don't forget to check out my Music 3.0 blog for tips and tricks on navigating social media and the new music business.

New Music Gear Monday: PreSonus Sceptre Monitors

I just love single point source monitors where the tweeter is located inside the diaphragm of the woofer. Everything sounds so much smoother and real to me. I was a Tannoy user for years and now one of my favorite small monitors is the Equator Audio D5. The PreSonus Sceptre series carries on the tradition of monitors built around coaxial speakers with the just introduced S6 and S8.

The Sceptre S6 features a 6.5 inch mid and low frequency transducer with a 1 inch titanium tweeter, while the S8 features an 8 inch mid and low frequency transducer with the same 1 inch tweeter. Both systems are biamped using identical 90 watt class D amps for high and low drivers.

The trick to the Sceptre series that make it different from other coax monitors is the built-in DSP designed by Fulcrum Acoustics (well-known in the acoustics community for their excellent design abilities) that manages everything from horn reflection to dynamic and excursion limiting.

I heard pre-release versions of the Sceptres when I visited the PreSonus factory in June and I really loved them. I haven't used them to mix yet, but just a cursory listen really made me anxious to try them in the field.

The PreSonus Sceptre S6 has a street price of $649 each, while the S8 is priced at $749 each. Check out the video below for more info.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter and Facebook for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Don't forget to check out my Music 3.0 blog for tips and tricks on navigating social media and the new music business.

David Bowie "Space Oddity" Isolated Vocal

Here's one of the cooler isolated tracks if you're a David Bowie fan. It's the isolated vocal from his hit "Space Oddity."

As some of you might know, I co-wrote the memoir of Ken Scott (Abbey Road To Ziggy Stardust), who engineered two Bowie records and engineer/produced 4 (include the seminal Ziggy Stardust). This is one that he didn't do however, because Bowie's producer at the time (Tony Visconti) hated the song and refused to work on it. Gus Dudgeon (who went on to fame producing early Elton John) stepped in and brought his own engineer.

Surprisingly, this song was a hit and brought Bowie to temporary prominence, but it also brought his career to a temporary halt, since "Space Oddity" was declared a "novelty." In fact, he quit the business for a short time afterwards, only to come back to record both Hunky Dory and Ziggy Stardust in quick succession with Ken.

Ken has said that Bowie might have been the best vocalist he's ever worked with, as 99% of the vocals on all the albums he worked on were first take! Here are some things to listen for.

1. Bowie doesn't begin to sing the verse until :32, but you can hear him making mouth noises before that.

2. There are a few flat parts, but these are mostly at the end of phrases as he drops his breath, not that it ever bothered anyone before as you can't hear them in the track. Still, these are things we would have fixed today.

Why Showing More Passion Means Greater Audience Response

Okay all you American Idol and The Voice wannabes, here's the key to winning the judges hearts. A study published in The Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Science has found that musicians who show passion when performing place higher when being judged.

Researchers recruited a group of 106 musicians with experience in judging music competitions, and then randomly assigned to one of three groups that did the judging. One group judged on sound only, one on video only and the third on both sound and video. They were then shown 6 second clips of the top 3 finalists in classical music competitions from around the world and asked to identify the winner in each of the 10 contests.

As you would expect, most of the judges said that they were primarily concerned with the audio performance, but it turned out that the judging group that picked on sound only guessed the winner only 26% of the time while the ones given the audio and video got it right 33% of the time, or about what the odds of chance predicted.

But what's mind-blowing is that the judges that were shown the video only guessed correctly 47% of the time, which meant that another round of research was required.

This time a study group was show black and white videos of just the outlines of musicians' bodies and asked a range of questions about the performers creativity, involvement, motivation, passion and uniqueness. It turns out that passion was the number one factor, and when the judges were asked to go back and judge the competition performances again, they scored nearly 60% right.

Musicians inherently know that the audience really digs it when it looks like you're really into it. Now there's real research that proves it.

Sign Up For The "6 Keys To Musical Prosperity" Teleseminar

Are you in a musical career rut?

Not doing the things in music that you thought you’d be doing?

Are you frustrated because you can’t seem to get the better gigs you think you deserve?

Then 6 Keys To Musical Prosperity teleseminar might be just the thing you need to kickstart your career.

I'm inviting you to a free 60+ minute telephone seminar I'm offering next Tuesday, September 24th with a group of my music industry friends like Dave Pensado and Paul Ill who currently work with hit artists that have recorded some of the classic songs that you hear on the radio every day.

If you're not making enough money or working with the best musicians and people in the industry, it's time to find out how to overcome the common hurdles that block musicians, engineers, and producers from doing the things they've always dreamed about.

Together we'll teach you things that 95% of all musicians don’t know.

To register for this call, which is free except for your normal long distance charges, go here now:

http://www.bobbyowsinski.com/6keysteleseminar.html

Once registered (remember, it’s free), you'll receive all the details to join the call via return email. I look forward to "seeing" you on the call next Tuesday!

How To Calibrate Your Hearing

One of the mistakes that many audio mixers make is not calibrating their hearing before beginning a mix. It's not that you can't get a great mix without it, it's just that doing so makes things easier, since it takes you less time to focus on the details of a mix. Here's an excerpt from the latest 3rd edition of The Mixing Engineer's Handbook that describes how to calibrate your hearing before the mix begins.

"Our ears are amazing organs that are capable of hearing sounds so faint that they move the eardrum less than the diameter of a hydrogen molecule. It’s important that we first calibrate them in order to take advantage of their enormous capabilities. Here’s how:

• Try to stay in the most quiet area that you can for as long as you can before you begin your mix. Concentrate on the sounds that you’re hearing and try to identify what they are and the direction they’re coming from. Studies have found that this can make your hearing much more acute.

• Stay away from a large meal before you mix since it can temporarily make your hearing less sharp. 

• In order to improve your ability to hear faint sounds, relax your jaw or just smile. There are tiny muscles in your jaw that can actually disrupt the action of your ear drums and eustachian tube, which control the inner ear pressure.

• If you will be doing work that requires your attention on a computer monitor screen, even small noises can subtly blur your vision. Turn the level down and try to keep the uninvited noises at bay.

TIP: Also remember that closing your eyes while mixing can sometimes improve your hearing by both lessening the distractions and allowing your brain to concentrate additional processing power on that sense."

To read additional excerpts from The Mixing Engineer's Handbook 3rd edition and other books, go to the excerpts section of bobbyowsinski.com.

HDMI 2.0 Is Here

If you do audio for video or are planning on buying a new television, you'll want to know that an new HDMI spec has now been released. HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) is the digital interface that allows you to transfer both video and audio from one device to another with a single cable.

HDMI 2.0 will accommodate the latest 4k displays that operate at 3840x2160p at 60Hz (the standard hi-def that we mostly see is 1920x1200p60). The bandwidth is also doubled from 9Gbps to 18Gbps, and supports the upcoming new aspect ratio of 21:9.

But the exciting part for audio people is that the new spec will support up to 32 discrete audio channels with sample rates up to 1536kHz. While home theatre is just settling into 7.1, HDMI 2.0 is all set for more immersive formats.

You can find out more about the HDMI 2.0 spec at HDMI.org.

New Music Gear Monday: Avid S6 Control Surface

Avid has taken digital audio workstation controllers to the next level with its introduction of the new S6 family, which could prompt many mixers who are used to mixing with a mouse to reconsider.

The S6 offers a modular approach that can be mixed and matched to your way of working or application, or two preconfigured versions - the smaller M10 with up to 9 modules and 24 faders, and the larger M40 with up to 61 modules and 64 faders. Modules include Master Touch, Master Automation, Fader, Knob, Display and Process.

This looks like one slick system, very modern looking and ergonomic, but the one module that really sticks out to me is the Display Module, which displays 8 channels and the waveforms of each. The S6 communicates with the computer using the EUCON ethernet protocol like the ICON and System 5 before it.

The price for the M10 starts around $22,000 while the M40 begins at $43,500. Check out the video below.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Don't forget to check out my Music 3.0 blog for tips and tricks on navigating social media and the new music business.