Recording - February 2014 - 14

Great Gear, Great Advice, and Great Times at PreSonuSphere 2013
Since 2011, the PreSonuSphere Annual Users' Conference in the PreSonus
hometown of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, has brought together industry professionals and end users in seminars, discussion groups, and hands-on product
clinics, aimed not only at PreSonus products but at a wide variety of topics of
interest to music professionals.
Upstairs, the Sternberg Conference Room was set
up as a hands-on classroom for topics like computer
optimization, recording software, and listening sessions for the new Eris and Sceptre monitors (see
reviews in May 2013 and in this very issue). The
room was fitted with a dozen Mac and PC workstations set up with control surfaces, audio interfaces,
and PreSonus' Studio One and Capture software.
This year, the beautiful Manship Theatre, the centerpiece of the whole Shaw Center, was in use
throughout the entire conference, hosting high-attendance events like a seminar on putting digital consoles
L'Angelus

PreSonuSphere 2013 (October 25-26) was the third and largest outing so far,
with some 500 participants running between some three dozen events over two
long days in four different performance spaces at Baton Rouge's gorgeous Shaw
Center For The Arts. After last year's successful hookup with Audio-Technica on
miking and wireless products, the event was opened to other firms beside
PreSonus, demonstrating their products in a vendor gallery and even hosting a
few of the seminars. Audio-Technica was back, along with Blue,
Khaliq Glover
Fishman, Obedia, PCAudioLabs, and more.
The Hartley/Vey Studio Theatre was adorned with a complete live PA setup on a full-sized stage. Audiences got to watch
everything from vocal comping sessions with producer Justin
Lassen, to tutorials on mic selection with Audio-Technica's Steve
Savanyu, to a session where Nashville-based zydeco band
L'Angelus took a live recording from tracking to mix to posting
for sale online in just 90 minutes, with the help of PreSonus'
Studio One DAW and the Nimbit online promotion service. It
also hosted lectures by luminaries like John Storyk (on studio
design principles and applications) and Bobby Owsinski (on
really effective ways to self-promote).
The smaller Hartley/Vey Workshop Theatre had a more intimate setup
where lecturers covered a wide variety of topics. The remarkable Fishman
Triple Play MIDI guitar interface was demonstrated by Burr Johnson; Craig
Anderton gave a talk on guitar tone in DAW recordings; PreSonus's John
Mlynczak brought his passion for music education to talks on using PreSonus
products (including the newly acquired Notion notation software) in the classroom; and musician and educator Martin Atkins (Public Image Ltd., Nine Inch
Nails, Pigface, and others) brought listeners his uniquely accessible and funny
views on touring and musical success.

to work in houses of worship, wireless
remote control of PA elements, and a 2part seminar where a PA was set up
and tuned, mics were placed and tested for soundcheck, and a recording
setup was put in place, all in preparation for a free concert by the band

Royal Teeth

Royal Teeth in the Manship that evening. Finally,
famed engineer Khaliq Glover wowed the audience
with a straightforward and easy-to-understand
approach to getting great mixes.
The weekend was an amazing learning experience; participants left with huge smiles and promises
to return. My only regret was that with all the stuff happening between the pre-conference Jambalaya Feed
and the final PreSonuSchmooze dinner at the end of
Day Two, there was simply too much to see and do
for any one reporter to take in. I was proud to represent Recording and its Spanish-language sister publication Músico Pro at PreSonuSphere... but next year,
I'm bringing Músico Pro Editor Fernando Curiel with
me so I'm not run off my feet!-Mike Metlay
Photos courtesy Steve Oppenheimer of PreSonus and
Tom Kibodeaux (service@preauxactive.com)
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RECORDING February 2014
Recording - February 2014

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