April 2006 In This Issue
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Competition SUBSCRIBE & WIN: Blue Sky 5.1 Monitoring System worth £2345 Deadline: 2006-06-30 New and existing subscribers can enter this special competition to win this fabulous 5.1 surround monitoring system. Hurry, the deadline is 30th June 2006... WIN: Digidesign Command 8 + M Box 2 worth £1620 Deadline: 2006-05-31 Prizes kindly donated by Digidesign +44 (0)1753 655 999 Reviews Active Monitors
Microphone Preamp Eight channels of clean and transparent preamplification, complete with input impedance switching and flexible digital output options. Pitch & Time Correction Software [Mac/PC] Melodyne has always worked miracles with the pitch and timing of monophonic audio, but Celemony's new version 3 turns its attention to full polyphonic mixes. Loop Recorder & Phrase Sampler Stomp Box
Gear Reviews, Tips and Techniques • Ehrlund Acoustic Pickup Instrument Library for AAS Tassman Do you like AAS's Tassman but a bit baffled when it comes to programming? Check out some of Harm Visser's ready-made instruments... Auto-EQ Active Studio Monitors These active monitors can automatically EQ their frequency response to compensate for your room acoustics. But how effective is this technology in practice? Synthesizer & Vocoder
88-note Stage Piano
Mix Control Surface Mackie's C4 controller has been a long time coming, but now that it's here, it provides real-time control for a variety of supported sequencers and their plug-ins, including Apple's Logic, Cakewalk Sonar, and Mackie's own Tracktion. Condenser Microphone This new high-resolution small-diaphragm condenser mic offers high SPL handling and a warm tone. Multi-channel A-D/D-A Converter Exceptional A-D and D-A conversion, digital audio interfacing in multiple formats, plus Firewire connectivity make this high-end workhorse something for any studio owner to aspire to. Hot New Releases • Big Fish Audio Hip-Hop High: Multi-format Sonic Implants Complete Symphonic Collection 24-bit Orchestral Library
Delay-based Pro Tools Effects Plug-in [Mac OS X] The former Wave Mechanics team set out to create the ultimate classic echo unit emulator, and ended up with a plug-in that does much more. Recording & Editing System [PC]
High-resolution Stereo Digital Recorder
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Music School Every year, the Red Bull Music Academy brings together DJs, musicians and producers from around the world in a whirl of caffeine-fuelled creativity. Roger Nichols: Across The Board The Current State Of Affairs
Writing & Producing in LA The success of Avril Lavigne's debut album Let Go catapulted The Matrix to the front rank of songwriters and producers. Since then, they've moved in ever wider musical circles, culminating in their work with nu-metal pioneers Korn. Technique Achieving Flexible Tempo In Digital Performer Digital Performer Notes & Techniques If you favour the feel of music that results from real people playing real instruments, the strict-tempo approach of a sequencer can feel like a straitjacket. But DP offers many ways of breaking out, and this month we explore them, as well as bringing news of the major update that is Digital Performer v5. CLASSIC TRACKS: Big Star: 'September Gurls' Producer: Big Star • Engineer: John Fry Three decades after they disappeared into obscurity, the cult of Big Star continues to grow. John Fry was the engineer and studio owner at Ardent, who oversaw the recording of their now-classic albums #1 Record and Radio City. Apple Notes With another major transition occurring in the Mac world this year, it's time to consider the real ramifications of moving from Power PC to Intel-based Macs for musicians and audio engineers. Making A Living From Music For Picture: Part 5 You Got The Commission — Now What? So, you've been commissioned to write the score for something. What should you do next? Bill Lacey provides some suggestions, with real-world scoring examples from The Destruction Of Civilization movie for you to download and try. + Audio Files We overhaul Bristol band Taxi's mix sound in search of punchier drums, meatier guitars, and a more polished lead vocal. On-line Mastering Services On Test Part 2: The Follow-Up A new business model for mastering houses allows you to submit tracks via the Web and pay on-line. Last month, we embarked on a unique test of these services. This month: the results are in... Quiet Please: Advanced PC Silencing PC Musician If you have to record in the same room as your PC, the acoustic noise the computer produces can be more than a mere irritant: it can also compromise sensitive recordings. We take a look at what you can do to restore peace. Simon Kusnierek • Jon Kent • Nate Lewis • Dan Edney Drum recording problems face the SOS team this month, as they sort out two Bristol-based studios at once. Digidesign (Avid) Pro Tools Tips & Techniques More and more post-production work is ending up in surround-compatible formats, such as DVD. We explain how to set up your Pro Tools system to do that work, and give some guidelines on recording and mixing in surround. Useful Sonar Features You May Have Missed Sonar Notes & Technique In a program as complex and feature-rich as Sonar, it's almost inevitable that there are useful little facilities that could make your life easier, but that you have somehow overlooked or forgotten. We turn the spotlight on some of the best. Using Hardware Controllers with Reason 3 Reason Notes & Techniques In all the excitement about Reason 3's Combinator device, the powerful new Remote hardware control functionality has been sadly overlooked — so let's remedy that situation with this article... Using REX Files In Ableton Live Ableton Live Notes & Techniques Ableton Live 5 doesn't work with REX files, right? Well, technically speaking, it does not support the 'official' REX file format. But not only can you create your own REX-style slicing within Live, the 'do it yourself' stretching method we describe in this article can be surprisingly flexible. Logic Notes & Techniques Although the new version of Logic is billed just as a Universal Binary crossgrade, it does more than simply allow the sequencer to run on the new Intel-based Macs. Read on... PC Notes If you're thinking about a new PC, do you need to make sure it's ready for the forthcoming Windows XP replacement: Vista? We examine the relevant issues for the musician. Write In Cubase, Mix In Pro Tools Steinberg Cubase Tips & Techniques If you like Cubase's sequencing capabilities but prefer to mix your projects in another application (eg. Pro Tools), we show you how to get your soft-synth parts from one app to the other. Sound Advice
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