Recording - April 2015 - 4

PUBLISHER: Thomas Hawley
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER: Brent Heintz

EDITORIAL

EDITOR: Mike Metlay
SPECIAL PROJECTS EDITOR: Lorenz Rychner
TECHNICAL CONSULTANT: Paul Vnuk Jr.
EDITOR AT LARGE: Beto Hale
COPY EDITOR: Diana Smethurst
MÚSICO PRO EDITOR: Fernando Curiel

Opening the toolbox
There were a lot of cool toys for a lot of uses on display at the Winter NAMM Show
(see our coverage starting on page 10), but I took note of the fact that this year's show
seemed to be offering a lot of worthwhile tools for aspiring songwriters. It's getting easier and easier for someone with good ideas to capture them and turn them into songs
that others can enjoy.
One trend that I mentioned last month was the sudden sexiness of good monitors and
high-quality headphones. We'll be bringing you reviews of a lot of these products in
the coming months, starting with the remarkable PMC twotwo.5 studio monitors from
the UK. Paul Vnuk Jr. shares his experiences on page 42.
Another example is the maturation of iOS-friendly products at the show. It's now quite
common for audio interfaces, from the entry-level to the advanced, to build in features
that make them work well with an iPad or iPhone. Music apps are still popping up
everywhere, and they're being perfected and made more useful with each passing day.
Check out our Once Over short reviews on page 60 for a look at interfaces from
Steinberg and Line 6 that happily work with Macs, PCs, and iPads, and the latest version of the touchAble iOS control surface for Ableton Live.
Despite complaints about "cheap gear everywhere", I saw a lot of products that really raised the bar. Aspiring songwriters can start out with affordable yet high-quality
tools, while established recording musicians who want the very best of the best have
more choices than ever. The latest UAD-2 plug-ins from Universal Audio, optimized for
the Unison hardware/software preamp modeling system, are just one example. Check
out page 26 for a side-by-side comparison of UA's newest Neve emulation with the venerable classic itself, the AMS Neve 1073N. Soyuz Microphones, a new maker from
the Russian city of Tula, brings us a marvelous new tube mic; read about it on page
56.
Portability doesn't mean poor quality any more, either. The Focusrite Forte (see page
36) sets a high standard for a portable tabletop audio interface system with sound quality that truly shines, and Millennia Media has packaged its brilliantly successful HV-3
mic preamp into a rugged pair of portable pres (see page 58). Also new: Zoom's new
H5 Handy Recorder, reviewed on page 44.
But there are other tools besides literal music machinery; there are mental tools that
have nothing to do with gear. The real heart of this issue is in articles full of useful
advice for budding songwriters from successful pros all around the world.
We welcome Halemanu, owner of the beautiful Sounds Like Hale recording studio in
Maui, to our pages, with an easy-going but insightful article on how a songwriter can
prepare for a big-studio session and make the most of it. If you're the sort who writes
at the piano rather than with a guitar, you'll want to read Malcolm Doak's piece on
using arranger keyboards to pull song ideas together.
Our tag team of successful marketing professionals, Katy Krassner and Eric
Alexandrakis, return to our pages with two very different articles. Katy distills down the
basics of the currently hot social media forums and what they can and can't do for your
music-sure, everybody knows about Facebook and YouTube, but if I didn't have a
teenaged daughter, I would never have heard of Vine! Meanwhile, Eric's piece cuts to
the core of what really matters when you get started in the songwriting process-the
ideas and emotion you bring, and the practice and honing of the skills you'll need. The
story of his success is painful, funny, and inspiring.
One last note: as great as it is to get and use good advice, it can be equally important to recognize and avoid bad advice. In a turnabout from our usual April Fool joke
hidden somewhere in the issue, we give our back page to Scott Dorsey for an "antiApril Fool" Fade Out. Thanks, Scott, for helping us toss a prevalent bit of so-called
Internet "wisdom" in the dumpster where it belongs.
Good advice, good tools, good results. Enjoy the issue!

CONTRIBUTORS
Paul Vnuk Jr., Halemanu,
Eric Alexandrakis, Darwin Grosse,
Malcolm Doak, Katy Krassner,
Paul J. Stamler, Marty Peters, Scott Dorsey
SOCIAL MEDIA
Brent Heintz, Paul Vnuk Jr.
ART & PRODUCTION

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

PLAYBACK PLATINUM SERIES
Lorenz Rychner

EDITOR/PRODUCER:

CIRCULATION
Tiffany Sepe

CIRCULATION MANAGER:

ADVERTISING SALES AND MARKETING
DIRECTOR: Brent Heintz
CLASSIFIEDS MANAGER: Colin Courtney
ADMINISTRATION
Thomas Hawley

ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE:

EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

PRESIDENT: Thomas Hawley
VICE PRESIDENT: Brent Heintz

SUBSCRIPTIONS/ADDRESS CHANGES:
1-954-653-3927
ADVERTISING/CLASSIFIEDS/MAIN OFFICE:
(303) 516-9118
RECORDING MAGAZINE
(ISSN 1078-8352; USPS 002-298) is published
monthly, 12 times per year, by Music Maker
Publications, Inc., 5408 Idylwild Trail, Boulder,
CO 80301-3523.
Tel: (303) 516-9118 Fax: (303) 516-9119
email: info@recordingmag.com
Los Angeles Editorial Office:
beto@recordingmag.com
Periodicals Postage is paid at Boulder, CO and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to
RECORDING, Subscriber Services, P.O. Box 5024, Fort.
Lauderdale, FL, 33310. Tel: 1-954-653-3927, Fax: 1-954-7723393. Subscription rate: $23.97 per year. Distributed to the
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Maker Publications, Inc. cannot be held legally responsible for
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© Copyright 2015 Music Maker
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PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.
4

RECORDING April 2015



Recording - April 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - April 2015

Recording - April 2015 - Cover1
Recording - April 2015 - Cover2
Recording - April 2015 - 1
Recording - April 2015 - 2
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Recording - April 2015 - Cover3
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/musicmaker/recording_201703
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/musicmaker/recording_201701
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/musicmaker/recording_201612
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/musicmaker/recording_201611
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/musicmaker/recording_201610
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/musicmaker/recording_201609
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