ProAudio Review - July 2008 - (Page 20)

STUDIO | Feature TRENDS Continued From Page 18 our gear sounds and why it works well. We use direct (DC) coupling topology, which means there’s no filter caps or other stuff in the signal path that will affect the transient response. This gives our gear a really wide, flat frequency response — from below 10 Hz to above 120 k — as well as lightning-fast transient attack and great crosstalk rejection, which translates into a clear, wide stereo image. PAR: After nearly a decade, do you still have to educate the recording community? BM: Whether an engineer came up in a console/tape environment or their first studio was a DAW rig, there’s still quite a bit of education that goes on, even before we talk about summing. The whole idea of maximum level and metering in the digital domain is still new to some people. With a VU meter there’s always something over zero. In digital land, zero is it. Early on in digital recording everyone was pushing their average levels up to right below full scale, and then wondering why their snare doesn’t have any crack and things are starting to sound all rounded off and weird — it’s because they’re losing all of their transient response. The educational curve is definitely improving though, and we enjoy doing it because it makes for better-sounding recordings in the end. PAR: Many engineers who mix ‘in the box’ have reported that with analog summing, they finally have that ‘warm’ sound back. Do these units really add color, or is it their lack of color that people notice? BM: It’s both really, depending on the manufacturer. The way I see it, there are two schools of thought for summing amp design: the color school and the clean school. We’re all about the clean school. We encourage people to listen and pick the box that works best for them, but overall find that keeping the tonal options open wins out. The Dangerous philosophy is to keep both the summing and monitoring paths very real. Don’t disguise the sound of the recorded tracks. You can then add color if you want by inserting outboard processing, but the summing box itself should not add coloration because that limits your options. It’s all about being able to pick and choose per project, and to not paint every track and every song with the same brush. Also a lot of mixers invest money in really great outboard gear, and they do that because of the way it sounds. If you have a mastering quality summing box and you run it through that SSL or Neve compressor, then it’s going to sound like you expect it to. We went this way because of our roots. DIGIDESIGN Like Coca-cola is to soft drinks, Pro Tools has become synonymous with the DAW environment. Digidesign software and hardware transformed the industry, and their presence continues to loom large. While Pro Tools largely remains the DAW ‘standard,’ platforms such as Apple Logic Pro and Steinberg Nuendo offer a viable, and in some situations, competitive, alternative. But like Pepsi and RC Cola, they appeal to a more select audience. We spoke with Digidesign manager of hardware product marketing Greg Westall about the inner-workings of Digi’s I/O interfaces for Pro Tools|HD. PAR: As Pro Tools software evolved how have Digidesign’s I/O interfaces evolved with it? Greg Westall: In 1991, the beginning of Pro Tools, you could combine interfaces and have up to 16 channels of I/O. Early interface development was focused on channel count. Today, we can deliver plenty of analog or digital inputs and outputs (160 channels with Pro Tools|HD), so the primary focus has become qualitative instead of quantitative. When Pro Tools|HD, Digidesign’s flagship system came along in 2001, we began pushing the limits of how warm, natural, and transparent that audio can sound. You can have tons of tracks and tons of I/O, but the challenge is to make the audio as high quality as possible. In terms of approach and/or design, every recording interface manufacturer uses the same converter chips from Cirrus, AKM, TI, and other component companies. To my knowledge the only pro audio interface manufacturer that doesn’t go that route is Prism. From what I understand, they build some of their own discrete converters from scratch; as a result, their interfaces are quite expensive. For customers that are looking for A/D or D/A that does sound different, Prism is an alternative. PAR: How is having a good I/O interface any more or less important as DAW platforms, such as Pro Tools|HD, have improved in quality? GW: Even though an HD system delivers 120 dB of dynamic range and sample rates up to 192 k, very few recording environments can fully take advantage of that capability. For example, the vast majority of the recording industry still uses 44.1 and 48 k sample rates. PreSonus (www.presonus.com): FireStudio Tube ($899) is a 16 X 10, 24-bit/96 kHz FireWire recording system featuring two ‘SuperChannel’ Class A vacuum tube microphone/instrument preamps with analog limiting per channel and 12AX7 tubes. I/O includes eight mic amps, six balanced TRS line inputs, eight TRS outputs, headphone output, MIDI I/O, and much more. Cubase LE is included. RME (www.rme-audio.de): Fireface 800 ($1,999) is a DAW I/O monster, featuring up to 56 channels of record/playback, up to 192 kHz sample rates, eight balanced line I/O, four phantom-powered mic preamps with balanced XLR and TRS input, and much more. Use of the XLR and TRS ins allow 35 simultaneous inputs to 28 tracks at once. TASCAM (www.tascam.com): The FireOne ($399) is an ergonomically friendly FireWire audio interface with shortcut keys, a weighted/illuminated job wheel plus two microphone preamps, two outputs, and 24bit/96 kHz audio resolution. Other neat features include a visual metronome for overdubbing musicians and eight DAW shortcut keys. TC Electronic (www.tcelectronic.com): The Desktop Konnekt 6 ($295) is a unique FireWire audio interface and monitor controller featuring the IMPACT microphone preamp with phantom power, built-in M40 reverb and included Cubase LE. Also includes is a hi-Z guitar input, balanced stereo outputs, and direct monitor control. From that perspective, modern day interfaces are still ahead of their time. Most engineers aren’t taking advantage of the features or capability that is already available. More interfaces sound good these days, but the high-end players are focused on that last one percent of improvement. In actuality, a good converter gets the heck out of the way; it shouldn’t impart any color or tonality. So the analog circuitry in front of it becomes increasingly important. For example, the Pro Tools|HD 192 interface has Class A discrete line amps. Those amps are as important as the converters. In a way, increasingly better converters have caused the surrounding electronics to become more important. I’d say, as a result, having a good I/O has become more important, because better converters reveal everything. PAR: How does Digidesign maintain quality standards in more cost-effective packages such as the MBox family? GW: Cost-effective devices in the pro audio industry are a direct result of offshore manufac- 20 | ProAudio Review | July 2008 www.proaudioreview.com http://www.presonus.com http://www.rme-audio.de http://www.tascam.com http://www.tcelectronic.com http://www.proaudioreview.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of ProAudio Review - July 2008

ProAudio Review - July 2008 Contents Publisher's Page: Inside Broadcast Production Studio News and New Products Steinberg Nuendo 4 Digital Audio Workstation Developments & Trends: Digital Audio Workstation I/O JZ Microphones Black Hole BH-1 Apple Logic Studio Behind The Scenes: JBL Professional – A 60-Year Legacy Broadcast News and New Products WLOY: Real World Facilities For An On-Campus Radio Station Post News and New Products Hot Gear InfoComm 08 Chandler Limited TG1 Abbey Road/EMI Series Limiter/Compressor Live News and New Products Cerwin-Vega! Professional Active Series CVA-28 and CVA-118 Speakers QSC Audio Model GX5 Power Amplifier From The Road: A Week In The Life — Gear Essentials Contracting News and New Products Taming The Driving Factor — Drums UpSampler: sE Instrument Reflection Filter Buyer’s Guide: Live Sound Amplifiers Single Slice: Roger Powell “Fallout Shelter”

ProAudio Review - July 2008

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