ProAudio Review - September 2008 - (Page 6)

FROM THE PUBLISHER It’s A Hard Drive World It is amazing to see how far the computer has come in the world of pro audio for recording, editing, mastering, live recording, etc. It is all done via the PC or Mac. One key component that has to keep pace with a computer’s power and sophisticated software capabilities is the hard drive. I remember when I first got in to desktop publishing in the mid1980s, the hot machine was a $2,599 Mac Plus that stored data on internal floppies. If you wanted a hard drive you went for an external 20 MB SCSI drive; it was about $400. Today you can purchase 4 GB of storage for $25 in a USB pocket flash drive. External hard drives connecting via USB, FireWire, eSATA or Ethernet are now dirt cheap, thanks to technical advances and overseas production capacity. I just bought a robust 750 GB, USB/FW400/800/eSATA connected external drive from FireWire Direct, based in Austin, Texas, for $279. So far, the Chinese-manufactured drive has delivered flawless performance. It came with a host of standard accessories including connection cables for USB, the two FireWires and an eSATA, all included. And it cools via a whisper quiet fan. It’s lightning fast through an Intel Mac with FW800 connection. I believe these kinds of hard drives are ideal for pro audio. Of course, there are drives of various price ranges and some are assembled in the U.S. The lower priced drives often don’t have cooling fans, which could lead to premature failure. But I have heard positive reports from drive makers Avastor, the aforementioned FireWire Direct, Glyph, and G-Tech. Avastor has pro audio, audio-for-video, and video in mind; the company even provides a handy carrying case to make your drive secure and portable to work at different studios or take-home projects. For the data intensive tasks, most of these companies also make the large capacity RAID set-ups. ProAudio Review Vol. 14 Issue 09 | September 2008 John Gatski Evaluating audio products for professionals in commercial recording, broadcast production, audio for video/film, project studios, live sound, contracting and multimedia. Publisher & Executive Editor: e-mail: Publisher, Pro Sound News: Editorial Director: Contributing Editor e-mail: Technical Editor e-mail: Technical Consultant John Gatski jgatski@nbmedia.com Margaret Sekelsky Frank Wells Strother Bullins strotherPAR@earthlink.net Steve Murphy smurphy@nbmedia.com Tom Jung No drive is 100 percent guaranteed against failure, and you should have backup capability, but the newer drives seem pretty robust for backups as well as primary use. At the end of the day, if you are a professional doing work with audio, you gotta have a hard drive. So do your homework in the prebuy process, and you should be rewarded with years of reliability. INSTRUMENT MIKING This month, we have a feature entitled “Trends in Instrument Miking,” which is indicative of the specialization in microphones for various instruments. In the article, Heather Johnson interviews some of the key players in the microphone manufacturing world. More and more manufacturers are using the latest technologies to make mics that have full frequency response yet are small enough to fit inside a piano, on a violin, in a saxophone, etc. And yet, these small mics don’t make concessions to sound quality. G-Tech They flatter the instruments quite well. I have tried a few them on acoustic guitar and have been quite happy with the results. UPCOMING AES Here is just a reminder to all our friends who are going to be at the AES Convention Oct. 2-5; stop by the New Bay Media booth, number 718, and say hello. Judging by the number of companies exhibiting this year, there should be numerous new products that will likely pique your interest. Of course, PAR staff will be out in full force looking for the hottest products to bestow the 13th annual PAR Excellence Award. John Gatski is publisher/executive editor of Pro Audio Review. Contributors: Tony Angelini, Bruce Bartlett, Dr. Frederick Bashour, Frank Beacham, Wayne Becker, Carlos Garza, Will James, Bascom H. King, Daniel Kumin, Russ Long, Rich Rarey, David Rittenhouse, Andrew Roberts, Alan Silverman, Rob Tavaglione, Mark Ulano, Roger Williams, Tom Young Production Director Ad Traffic Manager Graphic Designer National Sales Manager Ad Coordinator Circulation Associate Circulation Director, Audience Development Circulation Manager Circulation Coordinator Subscriptions Pro Audio Review, P.O.Box 8738, Lowell, MA 01853 Telephone 888-266-5828 (USA only 8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m. EST) 978-667-0352 (Outside the US) Fax: 978-671-0460 E-mail: newbay@computerfillment.com Web: MyPARmag.com CORPORATE — NewBay Media, LLC President and CEO Chief Financial Officer Controller Group Circulation Director Vice President of Web Development Market Groups Vice President, Group Publishing Director Pro Audio & Systems Division Executive Vice President, Video/Broadcast Division Vice President, Group Publishing Director Music Player Network Vice President, Group Publishing Director Video/Broadcast Division Eric Trabb John Pledger Carmel King Adam Goldstein Steve Palm Paul Mastronardi Jack Liedke Denise Robbins Joe Ferrick Anne Drobish Kwentin Keenan Michele Fonville Davis White Lori Richards Lourdes Lilly Matt Rubenstein Caroline Freeland Pro Audio Review Founded by Stevan B. Dana Feedback We want to hear from you. Send your comments to jgatski@aol.com. Please include name, city, state and job title and firm in the email. For product submissions, contact Strother Bullins at newproductsPAR@earthlink.net. MMADP 6 | ProAudio Review | September 2008 www.proaudioreview.com http://www.MyPARmag.com http://www.proaudioreview.com

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

ProAudio Review - September 2008 Contents Publisher’s Page: It's A Hard Drive World Broadcast News and New Products Lawo mc256 Digital Production Console Studio News and New Products Earthworks PM40 Piano Mic System Onkyo Professional PR-SC885 HDMI 1.3a Surround Sound Processor Developments and Trends: Instrument Microphones Benchmark Media DAC1 Pre Focal Twin6 Be Studio Reference Monitors Cascade FAT HEAD II Blumlein Package Studio Projects CS5 Microphone M-Audio Pulsar II Small-Diaphragm Condenser Live News and New Products JBL MRX512M Live Monitor QSC: Behind The Scenes Contracting News and New Products Primacoustic Broadway Professional Acoustic Solutions Buyer's Guide: Contracting Amplifiers/Mixers Buyer's Guide: Contracting Speakers Single Slice: pc muñoz "Chatter & Buzz"

ProAudio Review - September 2008

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