Recording - August 2012 - 4

PUBLISHER: Thomas Hawley ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER: Brent Heintz

EDITOR: Lorenz Rychner ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Mike Metlay EDITOR AT LARGE: Beto Hale MÚSICO PRO EDITOR: Fernando Curiel

EDITORIAL

CONTRIBUTORS Jerome Gilmer, Paul Vnuk Jr., Gary Eskow, Eric Ferguson, Bruce Kaphan, Marty Peters, Scott Dorsey SOCIAL MEDIA Brent Heintz, Paul Vnuk Jr.

What Goes Up, Must Come Down Digital technology has caused us to reverse many age-old assumptions, and as this issue’s focus demonstrates, one of those assumptions is the relationship between the size of a studio’s equipment racks and the processing power they provide. As you look through this issue of Recording you’ll see lots of fascias and some rear panels of boxes that only exist on the legacy market, traded among collectors and occasionally on Ebay. But those images are screen grabs of digital reproductions, computer programs that “model” those pieces of equipment from yesteryear. And rather than running cables to equipment racks, you now “plug in” those software emulations as you work within your audio production software. In many instances the software emulation is not just faithful to the original but exceeds the original’s capabilities, making some “if only it could also do xyz” wishes from long ago come true. So while the processing power has gone way up, the price and, of course, the (non-existing) physical space required has come way down. From earlier days of digital technology I recall an extreme case of operator power going way up while coming down to the size a humble floppy disk (before the days of flash sticks). Some years ago, during a press junket at the then brand new Staples Center in Los Angeles, representatives of Sony guided a group of reporters through the building, to arrive at the central audio mix location. That’s where they extolled the virtues of the latest and fully programmable digital console from which the audio feed of basketball and ice hockey games was being controlled. During the tour, attendees had marvelled at the strategic placement of microphones to capture the action as it moved from side to side, basket to basket, goal to goal. The young man who was getting ready to work the console for that day’s upcoming event was invited to explain how he does it, and expectations ran high among attendees for a long and complicated demo, especially considering the many knobs and faders on the console... It was over in about six seconds. The young man put the index finger and middle finger of his right hand onto two faders in the center of the huge console, and “walked” the faders with his fingertips, up and back, individually and together, to show how he follows the action on the basketball court or ice rink while watching the game on a video monitor. How could it be so simple? He explained that he had spent a lot of time learning how to program the console to map all the necessary functions and adjustments onto just those two faders. I remember one detail in particular: As the faders were approaching either end of their throw under his fingertips, the programmed automation brought up the level of mics that were otherwise attenuated while the play took place in the middle of the court or rink. He pointed out specifically that, for ice hockey, there was a mic (among others I’m sure) that could capture the clunk of a puck hitting the goal, while in basketball it was a mic located above the basket. And so it went, a clever reduction of an amazing complexity onto just two faders. He reached into his shirt pocket, pulled out a floppy disk, and stated that it contained his and only his console program. After each game he would erase the console’s memory, and his colleagues also carried their own jealously guarded customized setups that they would load into the console at the beginning of a shift. Up with the power, down with the hassle. Happy Recording!

ART DIRECTOR: Scott Simmonds PRODUCTION MANAGER: Colin Courtney WEB GOALIE: Colin Courtney

ART & PRODUCTION

EDITOR/PRODUCER:

PLAYBACK PLATINUM SERIES Lorenz Rychner CIRCULATION Tiffany Sepe

CIRCULATION MANAGER:

ADVERTISING SALES AND MARKETING DIRECTOR: Brent Heintz CLASSIFIEDS MANAGER: Colin Courtney
ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE:

ADMINISTRATION Stephanie King

PRESIDENT: Thomas Hawley VICE PRESIDENT: Brent Heintz

EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

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RECORDING August 2012

Recording - August 2012

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