Just received May's issue today and found another issue without Hugh's insight on recording gear. I can see if he took a holiday and was away for a month, but now it's at least 3 issues without a Hugh review. Hope you are well my friend. SOS is not the same without you.

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revelationsoundstudio.com

Hi Glenn,
Hugh was out of action for a couple of months either side of Christmas, while recovering from illness. I'll leave it to Hugh to decide if he wants to say more. But the good news is that he's recovered and nearly back to full strength, and will be back very soon - there are already several (good, insightful...) reviews and features from him in the pipeline.
Regards,
Matt

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SOS Reviews Editor

Well best wishes to Hugh then, hope he feels better soon. The audio world would be a poorer place without his SOS contributions.



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11011110110010101111 - 110000001111111111101110 - 101110101101
Hexadecimal binary coding anyone?

Thanks Chaps. Fear not Glenn, I'm still here and still doing my thing. As Matt said, I was incapacitated for a while but things are virtually back to normal now and the articles and reviews are heading back down the pipeline!

hugh

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Technical Editor, Sound On Sound

nooooooooo oo o o oooo o o o o


...oh well, okay.

Glad to hear it - it's a scary world without the ol' Robjohns insight!

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"We knocked on the doors of Hell's darker chambers..." But no-one answered, so we went to the pub instead.

Welcome back, Hugh! So glad you're feeling better!!

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Alexis -Cubase 6.5.0/SX3.1.1.944, XP SP2, 4GB RAM (1GB not accessible, but used just to balance the computer so it doesn't tip over); Delta 66 in Omni i/O Studio; Motif8; UAD-1

Glad to hear that you're better Hugh.

Stewart

Don't like to think of Hugh being unwell, glad you've returned Hugh!

"We Can't Do Without Hugh" - there's a song in there, somewhere. I'm sure there is.

Quote Barilla:

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Don't like to think of Hugh being unwell, glad you've returned Hugh!

"We Can't Do Without Hugh" - there's a song in there, somewhere. I'm sure there is.

---

I know I can't, how 'bout you?

;-)

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Alexis -Cubase 6.5.0/SX3.1.1.944, XP SP2, 4GB RAM (1GB not accessible, but used just to balance the computer so it doesn't tip over); Delta 66 in Omni i/O Studio; Motif8; UAD-1

Hugh, sorry to hear you've been ill and glad to learn less than a minute later that you've recovered. We need you healthy for your articles, but most of all we need you healthy for you. Glad to hear of your victory over infirmary and for those who missed it, here's an instant replay:

Yes, I had also been worried by Hugh-free issues of SOS. Glad you're feeling better Hugh.

Here is our get well card to you Hugh. I was concerned seeing a Grace piece of gear reviewed by someone other than you. It also lacked the charm and personality of a former BBC employee.

Glad to hear PAT test has gone well, Hugh. Where'd they put the sticker?

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Ohm's Law states, "Your PA isn't as powerful as you think it is".

Quote Keef R.:

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It also lacked the charm and personality...

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I don't think that's fair, it had the writer's own charm and personality. The only difference is that Hugh is a home comfort we have all grown to trust and are all accustomed to.

Big shoes to fill for anyone. Well done Bob, but welcome back Hugh.



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Hexadecimal binary coding anyone?

The other guys reviews were good. All I meant was the particular charm and wit of Hugh was missed. Peace and Love

Quote Freuman:

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I don't think that's fair, it had the writer's own charm and personality. The only difference is that Hugh is a home comfort we have all grown to trust and are all accustomed to.

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Wow! Well said! Are you a diplomat or something?

Hugh rocks.

If only there was some quality, printed tome where he regularly distilled his sage wisdom and 1337 expert knowledge in some accessible, easy-to-read article form... oh - wait...

here's to a speedy recovery, hugh!

recuperation can take a while. in a dissimilar vein, i'm reminded of a 'behind the music' episode on billy idol. seems during a especially boisterous tour in the late 80s he and his band had to take a month off the road to recuperate from a particularly bad case of the cl*p the groupies had given them as they were passing it amongst themselves (not to mention the groupies). i trust the groupies who flock to the SoS events are a higher calibre ;-)

ps: i once asked my friend the "famous british prog rocker" about groupies during the heyday of prog rock. he shook his head sadly and said that prog crowds were almost entirely stag affairs (skinny white guys in their 20s, if i recall correctly). so much for getting into music for the women ;-)

cheers,

d

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"Patsy had the drug tolerance of Keith Richards and the moral rectitude of Brian Jones." - Dr. Walter Bishop, "Fringe"

Hugh is bot handsome and 'ard and I have on occasion, seen him tread on water.

I have no more to say on this subject.

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Samplecraze
Stretch That Note

Quote Zukan:

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Hugh is bot handsome and 'ard and I have on occasion, seen him tread on water.

I have no more to say on this subject.

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aren't you glad that our days of wild misadventure were before cell phone cameras and facebook =:-O

btw, hugh, no disrespect intended in my post. just a bit of cheeky humor (so to speak)... hope you're back in form soon ;-)

cheers

d

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"Patsy had the drug tolerance of Keith Richards and the moral rectitude of Brian Jones." - Dr. Walter Bishop, "Fringe"

Wishing you well Hugh!

Thanks again guys -- your kind wishes and comments are all very much appreciated. Normal service has been resumed, although it will take a few issues for my contributions to work their way through the system.

No doubt you'll be pleased to know that I restarted Studio SOS makeovers with PW a few weeks ago too!

hugh

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Technical Editor, Sound On Sound

Hugh is back with a vengeance in the July issue of SOS!

Welcome back Hugh, you were missed.

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revelationsoundstudio.com

I think SOS's next spin off magazine is going to be called "Hugh On Sound", and I'll be subscribing immediately, and permanently...

Edited by desmond (23/06/11 01:45 PM)

Are you *sure* it's the real Hugh though? I've never known him to be that enthusiastic about so many products in one issue

It was a cunning ploy... they saved lots of special gear for him to review at the same time. Now he wants to buy it all and has to work hard on the boring reviews to pay for it.



Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

You don't know how close to the truth you are
Andy!

Hugh

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Technical Editor, Sound On Sound

I already noticed you purchased the Grace Design monitor controller. Did your wife give you permisson on that one?

I am thinking if I ever upgrade from my Presonus Central Station, I would get the Grace Design unit myself. That remote looks really nice and it won't take up too much room in the studio. The price is also easier on your wallet compared to the Cranesong unit.

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revelationsoundstudio.com

Quote Hugh Robjohns:

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You don't know how close to the truth you are
Andy!

Hugh

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Believe me, I do Hugh... it takes a lot to impress you, I'm old enough to remember when your SOS pieces had to carry a disclaimer

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

Quote zenguitar:

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Believe me, I do Hugh... it takes a lot to impress you, I'm old enough to remember when your SOS pieces had to carry a disclaimer

Andy

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It was hard getting them to sit on Egyptian parchments huh?

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Samplecraze
Stretch That Note

Were they in cuneiform then?


Martin

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YewTreeMagic

Quote Mixedup:

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Are you *sure* it's the real Hugh though? I've never known him to be that enthusiastic about so many products in one issue

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I'm beginning to wonder. I've just completed a review of the Generic Audio Perceptor compressor limiter... and I came close to gushing in that one too!

Has the standard of pro audio gear rising sharply in the lsat few months, or has someone been saving up all the good toys for my return?

Hugh

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Technical Editor, Sound On Sound

Quote Hugh Robjohns:

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.. has someone been saving up all the good toys for my return?

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Not all I hope - save some for me.

I have one or two goodies I'm looking at as well.

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John - Sound-Link ProAudio
President - Federation Internationale des Chasseurs de Sons

Quote Hugh Robjohns:

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've just completed a review of the Generic Audio Perceptor compressor limiter... and I came close to gushing in that one too!

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I can confirm that it qualifies as gushing

Quote:

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Has the standard of pro audio gear rising sharply in the lsat few months, or has someone been saving up all the good toys for my return?

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I've been kind Hugh. Now you're better, I'll send something nasty over soon!

Seriously, there do seem to be many more 'boutique' manufacturers around making high-quality hardware. There are a few whose products don't match up to the image, but the quality in general is very good. I put this down in part to the decline in the 'affordable' hardware processor market, where plug-ins seem to offer much better value in *most* instances (there are still a few good affordable bits of outboard!). At the more esoteric end of the market, the plug-ins just don't sound the same, and in many cases aren't anywhere near as forgiving as the best hardware. So you're getting sent less of the compromised stuff for review and more of the tasty.

Another reason for the profusion of high-quality toys is that there are a lot of manufacturers taking classic designs as inspiration and adding new features like parallel processing, side-chain filters and so on. If you stop to think about it, it's hard to design a bad product that way!

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SOS Reviews Editor

Quote Martin Walker:

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Were they in cuneiform then?


Martin

---

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Samplecraze
Stretch That Note

Quote Matt Houghton:

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Seriously, there do seem to be many more 'boutique' manufacturers around making high-quality hardware. There are a few whose products don't match up to the image, but the quality in general is very good. I put this down in part to the decline in the 'affordable' hardware processor market, where plug-ins seem to offer much better value in *most* instances (there are still a few good affordable bits of outboard!).

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I was sad to see the Focusrite Platinum Series go away. Besides the TL Audio Ivory 2 series, there is not much for the home studio owner who wants hardware gear to buy. Though the plug ins are nice, I still love the Focusrite Compounder, Mix Master and Voice Master was great too. I was able to grab a Compounder which my church is using on their Mackie Onxy mixer for the 2 bus.

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revelationsoundstudio.com

Quote Glenn Bucci:

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Quote Matt Houghton:

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Seriously, there do seem to be many more 'boutique' manufacturers around making high-quality hardware. There are a few whose products don't match up to the image, but the quality in general is very good. I put this down in part to the decline in the 'affordable' hardware processor market, where plug-ins seem to offer much better value in *most* instances (there are still a few good affordable bits of outboard!).

---

I was sad to see the Focusrite Platinum Series go away. Besides the TL Audio Ivory 2 series, there is not much for the home studio owner who wants hardware gear to buy. Though the plug ins are nice, I still love the Focusrite Compounder, Mix Master and Voice Master was great too. I was able to grab a Compounder which my church is using on their Mackie Onxy mixer for the 2 bus.

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The Compounder's much under-rated. They go for silly (as in very little) money second hand (I should know; I just sold mine!).

There are still some good buys for smaller budgets. Golden Age PRE73 and COMP54 are really good for the money. dbx are still doing very usable stuff, as are TC amongst others. It's just that there's not that much *new* to review, whereas it seems there are several new boutique compressors every week right now. Not that I'm complaining, as it's great fun trying them all out