Recording - May 2012 - 61
can be considered done, but that’s no different than the case with headphones. The third thing I noticed was the tremendous detail one has in everything one hears; it’s easy to pick out editing and intonation-control errors, weird eq choices, places where noise is subtle but there, mismatched levels, and the like. Soundstaging is of course very different than with monitors. There is no phantom center, and perhaps even more than with headphones it feels like the music is inside your skull. But that allows for very fine panning choices to be made with accuracy, subject to crosschecking on monitors. Oh, what was the first thing? How unbelievably good these in-ears sounded. They have sparkle without harshness, solid and believable mids without being rock’n’roll forward, and extended and accurate bass (once you get used to hearing rather than feeling it). I could listen for hours without fatigue at sensible levels, and felt really good about what I was hearing. My standbys—Led Zeppelin, Johnny Cash, Neko Case, Dead Can Dance, Victor Wooten, Bill Bruford, and Brian Eno, as well as some great classical CDs on the Telarc imprint—all sounded vivid, clear, detailed, and honest. And my self-produced solo-artist work from the 1980s and early 1990s sounded fantastic... on those occasions when it was fantastic. The rest of the time, it sounded shabby, poorly edited, noisy, and imperfectly mixed, which it was. Hey, we all started somewhere, right? One final note: I don’t know if this is a common practice at Alclair, but my package included a pair of solid-rubber earplugs from the same custom molds. They’re not flat, attenuating highs much more than lows, but their isolation was fantastic (over 35 dB) and they were much appreciated. (The in-ears isolate sound extremely well on their own, of course, by virtue of their sealed design.) So If you’ve been considering in-ear monitors for studio or stage and were wondering about where to spend your money, I can’t hear for you but I can say that these Alclair Reference in-ears sound amazing to me. Combined with a good 24-bit/96 kHz D/A (I have a CEntrance AxePort Pro, reviewed June 2009), it’s a sweet monitoring system that will save your neck in situations where you can’t be sure of what you’re hearing, and it fits in a pocket. Price: $499 (other systems start at $249) More from: Alclair, www.alclair.com Mike Metlay (mike@recordingmag.com) would like to thank Marc Musselman for casually working the miracle of earmolds that actually fit.
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http://www.clearsonic.com
http://www.clearsonic.com
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http://www.alclair.com
http://www.fretlight.com
Recording - May 2012
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - May 2012
Recording - May 2012
Fade In
Contents
Talkback
Fast Forward
Lynne Arriale’s Solo—A Piano Solo Recording Of Note
Kel Audio HM-7U amd HM-3C Microphones
Fanny Franklin’s Get Wet—A Conversation With Producer/Engineer Jason Gutierrez
AKG Perception 120 USB Microphone
Miking Instruments: The Lost Art
Earthworks SR20 Microphone
SXSW 2012
Radial Engineering MC3 Passive Monitor Switcher
Readers’ Tapes
Recording Fundamentals. Chapter 5: Introduction To Microphones—Part Two (Directionality).
Miking A Symphony Orchestra For A Commercial
Audio-Technica AT4050ST Stereo Microphone
Alclair Reference In-Ear Monitors
RME Fireface UCX
Advertiser Index
Fade Out
Recording - May 2012 - Recording - May 2012
Recording - May 2012 - Cover2
Recording - May 2012 - 1
Recording - May 2012 - 2
Recording - May 2012 - 3
Recording - May 2012 - Fade In
Recording - May 2012 - 5
Recording - May 2012 - Contents
Recording - May 2012 - 7
Recording - May 2012 - Talkback
Recording - May 2012 - 9
Recording - May 2012 - Fast Forward
Recording - May 2012 - 11
Recording - May 2012 - Lynne Arriale’s Solo—A Piano Solo Recording Of Note
Recording - May 2012 - 13
Recording - May 2012 - 14
Recording - May 2012 - 15
Recording - May 2012 - 16
Recording - May 2012 - 17
Recording - May 2012 - 18
Recording - May 2012 - 19
Recording - May 2012 - 20
Recording - May 2012 - 21
Recording - May 2012 - Kel Audio HM-7U amd HM-3C Microphones
Recording - May 2012 - 23
Recording - May 2012 - Fanny Franklin’s Get Wet—A Conversation With Producer/Engineer Jason Gutierrez
Recording - May 2012 - 25
Recording - May 2012 - 26
Recording - May 2012 - 27
Recording - May 2012 - 28
Recording - May 2012 - 29
Recording - May 2012 - 30
Recording - May 2012 - 31
Recording - May 2012 - 32
Recording - May 2012 - 33
Recording - May 2012 - AKG Perception 120 USB Microphone
Recording - May 2012 - 35
Recording - May 2012 - Miking Instruments: The Lost Art
Recording - May 2012 - 37
Recording - May 2012 - Earthworks SR20 Microphone
Recording - May 2012 - 39
Recording - May 2012 - SXSW 2012
Recording - May 2012 - 41
Recording - May 2012 - Radial Engineering MC3 Passive Monitor Switcher
Recording - May 2012 - 43
Recording - May 2012 - Readers’ Tapes
Recording - May 2012 - 45
Recording - May 2012 - Recording Fundamentals. Chapter 5: Introduction To Microphones—Part Two (Directionality).
Recording - May 2012 - 47
Recording - May 2012 - 48
Recording - May 2012 - 49
Recording - May 2012 - 50
Recording - May 2012 - 51
Recording - May 2012 - 52
Recording - May 2012 - 53
Recording - May 2012 - 54
Recording - May 2012 - 55
Recording - May 2012 - Miking A Symphony Orchestra For A Commercial
Recording - May 2012 - 57
Recording - May 2012 - Audio-Technica AT4050ST Stereo Microphone
Recording - May 2012 - 59
Recording - May 2012 - Alclair Reference In-Ear Monitors
Recording - May 2012 - 61
Recording - May 2012 - RME Fireface UCX
Recording - May 2012 - 63
Recording - May 2012 - 64
Recording - May 2012 - Advertiser Index
Recording - May 2012 - 66
Recording - May 2012 - 67
Recording - May 2012 - 68
Recording - May 2012 - 69
Recording - May 2012 - 70
Recording - May 2012 - 71
Recording - May 2012 - Fade Out
Recording - May 2012 - Cover3
Recording - May 2012 - Cover4
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