SOUND ON SOUND
Hugh Robjohns has been Sound On Sound's Technical Editor since 1997. Prior to that he worked in a variety of (mostly) sound-related roles in BBC Television, ending up as a Sound Operations Lecturer at the BBC's technical training centre.
He continues to provide audio consultancy and bespoke broadcast audio training services all over the world, lectures at professional and public conventions, and occasionally records and masters acoustic and classical music too!
BSS are well known in the live sound market, but some of their well-specified gates, EQs and compressors are equally at home in a recording environment. The DPR944, for example, has two gates and two parametric compressors, with independent ins and outs. Hugh Robjohns is impressed.
Classic studio signal processors such as the vintage Urei 1176 limiting amplifier impart a unique sound while keeping levels under control, but are rare and expensive. Purple Audio have an answer in the form of the MC76 — an old idea revisited. Hugh Robjohns does the time warp again...
Specialist high-end equipment manufacturer Millennia Media have produced an innovative dual-channel parametric equaliser with a difference — user-selectable valve or solid-state circuit topologies. Hugh Robjohns investigates.
The first of Roland's eagerly awaited digital mixers, the VM3100 is an obvious spin-off from the mixer section of Roland's VS1680 digital multitracker. But it still packs a lot of functionality into a tiny space — and the basic version is the cheapest digital mixer yet!
Sampled drums may be quicker and cheaper than the real thing, but there is something special about a real drummer hitting real drums. Hugh Robjohns passes on a few ideas and tips on capturing the best possible kit sound.
Hugh Robjohns tries out a stylish new microphone from US manufacturers Earthworks.
Artificial reverb algorithms are designed to add 'fake' room ambience to recorded sounds — but a prototype reverb unit from Sony purports to deliver new levels of realism by imposing the characteristics of actual reverberant spaces on the sound. Hugh Robjohns explains....
Hugh Robjohns meets a double-act of new Beyer microphones.
The craft of mixing is all about controlling and balancing the relative levels of different instruments. Most of this balancing is done by riding the faders, but dynamic compression can also be a very useful and powerful tool if used appropriately. Hugh Robjohns explains some of the techniques and traps involved in mix compression.
The Circle 3 nearfield monitors are the latest fruits of the collaboration between HHB and Harbeth. Hugh Robjohns tries them out.