Ask A Sound Guy

Today marks the end of the 2009 AES Show in New York City. It was our first real trade-show and was a lot of fun. We met a ton of great people, all of whom we hope to keep in contact with for a long time.

Obviously AES is an audio nerd’s dream come true: it’s wall-to-wall gear and like-minded individuals talking shop and other having fun. There’s parties, lectures, and even science-heavy white paper lectures (for those who are into those kinds of things). But most importantly it’s gear. Whether new or old, analog or digital, software or hardware, it’s all used for recording, mixing, mastering, post production, and more.

We literally walked by every single exhibit and gave every product some attention. However, some products blew our mind a little bit more than others, so I thought I’d go through the tech that I was most excited about.

• Cloud Ribbon Microphones:  Particularly the JRS-34. These microphones sound and look amazing because of their background and the people involved with them. Stephen Sank, who’s father replaced Harry Olsen at RCA, has been restoring and modifying classic RCA ribbons for some time now. RJ Cloud and Stephen Sank have been developing modern ribbons with vintage souls since 2006 and the mics are now becoming available to the general public. The mics sound amazing, are built inside the United States, and are considerably cheaper than buying an RCA 44/77.
• Audient Zen: It’s no secret that the way of the commercial studio is going the way of small, efficient, and hybrid. I love giant analog consoles, and while I’m sure they’re still being sold, I’m sure consoles like the Zen are being sold much faster. The Zen offers you all the flexibility you’re going to need from a small-form analog/digital console with a considerably lower price tag than it’s competitors (even if you buy it fully loaded). The console designer has been designing circuits/gear since the 60s and was on-hand to give me an in-depth tour of the board. And, as much as I love SSL, Neve, and API, I must say that this is the only desk that got me really stoked.
• Dangerous Music D-Box: Okay, confession time: I can be a bit behind in terms of higher end gear. I don’t work in a big studio. So while I was a bit familiar with Dangerous Music’s tech, I hadn’t had the pleasure of seeing and hearing the D-Box until Saturday. After being given a very detailed tour of the box, I have to say that if I was ever building a serious project studio around a Pro Tools LE system, I’d HAVE to own this thing. It’s a monitoring solution, cueing setup, talkback/headphone solution, analog summing box, and D/A convertor.
• Two Notes Torpedo VB-101: With all the buzz surrounding the Digidesign Eleven Rack, I have to believe you’re going to hear a little bit about this amazing unit once it starts coming around in the United States. The Torpedo is based on a convolution algorithm which delivers amazing sounds. It’s got 16 amp/8 studio microphone choices, USB control with the Torpedo Remote software, 24bit/192kHz analog I/Os, AES/EBU/SPIDF digital I/Os with a wordclock sync, and is fully MIDI assignable. That’s all well and good, but the two best features of this unit is the fact that you can use your own guitar/bass amps the box and you can create your own IRs (impulse responses) with the Torpedo Capture software! Have a buddy in Europe with a killer amp/mic combo that you’d like? This software and box gives you the ability to do that. A must have for any serious studio guitar player.
• Grimm Audio LS1/AD1: Confession time part two: I’m a scientist and I’ll never try to convince you that I am. So when Sanjay and I met with the Grimm guys and they went into the reason their gear is world-class, a lot of it went over my head. Which is all well and good because as much as I love great sounding stuff, I also love great looking gear which is why the Grimm stuff caught my eye (A/D convertor with wood front panel? yes please!). Knowledge of high-level audio science or not, the LS1 (they’re flagship studio monitors) were astounding. They’re sleek, built solidly, and sound like some of the best monitors I’ve ever heard. Make no mistake, though: this is high-grade, expensive, and most definitely pro gear. The price tag reflects this, but I’m 100% certain that this gear is worth every penny.
• Thermionic Culture: By now it should be no secret that I’m a huge fan of hand-made, high quality, analog gear. Thermionic Culture makes gear that falls under each of those three criteria for awesome gear. From preamps to EQs and just about anything in-between, these guys have all the bases covered for your tracking, mixing, and tone-shaping needs. The great thing about the gear is that while a bit more pricey than your run-of-the-mill dbx or M-Audio gear, it’s certainly well worth it for any studio desiring the all-valve analog sound whether it be project or commercial facility.
• Endless Audio CLASP: When I read the press release for this, I had to read it again to make sure I had read it right. A way to incorporate that somewhat forgotten tape machine into your daily digital work? Endless Analog is making that come true with CLASP (Closed Loop Analog Signal Processor). The way it works is simple: once the CLASP rack-unit is installed, it runs as a plug-in inside your Pro Tools system. As you record, it hits your tape machine first and then goes right into your Pro Tools system. Your PT transport now can control your tape machine transport, you can do tape punches just as easily as you can do punches in PT, and you can even change the speeds at which your tape machine is running on the fly. It’s kind of expensive but has taken a number of years to develop. It’s limited in it’s market as it’s really only open to studios that already have tape machines or newer studios that have a tape machine in their budget, but it’s amazing nonetheless.
• Novation Launchpad: The APC40 seems to be a pretty big hit with Live users, but I think this piece of hardware might put a pretty sizable dent in the market for Akai. At first glance, you may notice what this device doesn’t have: no faders, no encoders. But what it does have is much more important. It has a) a lower price ($199 retail), b) great feeling pads, c) the ability to link up to six units together at a time and work in tandem with an APC40, allowing you to work with both at the same time, d) the high-quality you’ve come to expect with Novation controllers, and e) Automap. Don’t write this thing off. You can still control sends, levels, panning, and all the other stuff with the Launchpad, just in a slightly different fashion.
• iZotope Alloy: I’ve been a fan of RX since I was introduced to it a couple of years ago so I make sure to check out everything that comes out of iZotope’s factory. Alloy is a somewhat rare departure from their normal territory, but I’m stoked to get a hold of this. I’d write a bunch of words about the software, but perhaps you’d like to watch our video in which the head of iZotope’s beta-testing department gives us a great walkthrough of the program.

So ends my giant wall of text. While there was tons of gear at this years show, the above pieces were my absolute favorite. There wasn’t a lot of disappointments at the show, but there were a few.

• No Digidesign!
• No Akai
• No Apple
• Overall smaller show than last year which means…
• SSL and Neve booths weren’t as large as they’ve been in years past
• I’m not meant to live in NYC, as this trip has shown me
• The Javits center’s food sucks and is too expensive

Other than that, it was a blast. We’re definitely going to be at AES San Francisco next fall, hopefully with an intern or two doing most of the writing (we missed a lot of great parties to write!). Maybe we’ll get a shot at NAMM in January? We sure hope so.

Closing note: Sanjay took quite a bit of video at this years AES including demos of the Launchpad, CLASP, Alloy, and new gear from both Monster and Waves. Be sure to check out and subscribe to the YouTube channel here!

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