ProAudio Review - February 2009 - (Page 6)

technically speaking From Razor Slice To Mouse Click Frank Wells Pro Audio Review The Review Resource for Sound Professionals FEBRUARY 2009 V O L U M E 15 ISSUE 2 EDITORIAL Frank Wells, Editorial Direc tor 615-848-1769, fwells@nbmedia.com Strother Bullins, Reviews And Features Editor 336-703-9932, strotherPAR@earthlink.net Fred Goodman, Managing Editor 212-378-0423, fgoodman@nbmedia.com Christopher Walsh, Associate Editor 212-378-0437, cwalsh@nbmedia.com Lynn Fuston, Technical Editor Rich Tozzoli, Soft ware Editor Bruce Bartlett, Dr. Frederick Bashour, Ty Ford, Carlos Garza, Will James, Tom Jung, Bascom H. King, Russ Long, Steve Murphy, Alex Oana, Randy Poole, Mike Rivers, David Rittenhouse, Richard Alan Salz, Alan Silverman, Rob Tavaglione, Dan Wothke, Tom Young C ontributors ADVER TISING Tara Preston, Associate Publisher 917-331-8904, tpreston@nbmedia.com Karen Godgart, Sales Direc tor, West C oast Offic e 323-868-5416, kgodgart@nbmedia.com Allison Smith, Specialty S ales A ssociate, Nor th 650-238-0296, asmith@nbmedia.com Will Sheng, Specialty S ales A ssociate, S outh 650-238-0325, wsheng@nbmedia.com AR T & PRODUCTION Annmarie LaScala, Ar t Direc tor Fred Vega, Produc tion Manager 212-378-0445, fvega@nbmedia.com CIR CUL ATION Anne Drobish, Associate Circ ulation Direc tor, Audienc e Development Michele Fonville, Circ ulation C oordinator Subscrip tions: Pro Audio Review, www.MyPARmag.com P.O. Box 234, Lowell, Ma 01853 Tel: 888-266-5828 (U.S.A. Only, 8:30 A.M. - 5 P.M. Est) 978-667-0352 (Outside The U.S.) Fax: 978-671-0460 E-Mail: Newbay@Computerfulfillment.com NE WBAY MEDIA AUDIO GROUP John Pledger, Vic e President/Group Publishing Direc tor Anthony Savona, Editorial/Creati ve Direc tor Robert Granger, Online Produc tion Manager David Leach, Web Analyst Ashley Vermillion, Web Produc tion Specialist Lesley Keller, Web A d Produc tion Specialist NE WBAY MEDIA CORP ORATE Steve Palm, President & CEO Paul Mastronardi, Chie f Financial Offic er Joe Ferrick, Vic e President Of Web Development Denise Robbins, Circ ulation Direc tor Greg Topf, IT Direc tor Jack Liedke, C ontroller Ray Vollmer, HR Direc tor REPRINTS AND PERMIS SIONS: For Article Reprints, Please Contact Our Reprint Coordinator At Wright’s Reprints: 877-652-5295 PRINTED IN THE U.S.A . Administrative, Advertising, & Editorial Offices 810 Seventh Ave., 27th floor New York, NY 10019 TEL: (212) 378-0400 FAX: (212) 378-0435 E-MAIL: pro@nbmedia.com When I first started in audio, digital recording was largely unheard of except amongst the theorists. Recording was done to analog tape. Editing was by razor blade and adhesive tape. My first exposure to digital editing was the JVC DAS system, an alternative to the Sony PCM-1630 system that was the backbone of CD mastering for many years. Both systems were built on video technology then in common use in broadcasting. Digital audio was recorded as black and white dots on 3/4-inch U-matic videotape cassettes. “Insert editing,” as can be done with linear analog tape by inserting a section of tape into the middle of a recording (to extend a recording, or, to reorder portions of a recording or a collection of recordings), was impossible. Instead, you used what was essentially a customized video editor to “assemble edit” a master, locking two machines together and then dubbing material section by section into a new recording—record from the “master” to the “slave” a bit past the first edit point, replace the master with the source tape for the next chunk of an alternate mix and “scrub” with the shuttle wheel to find the edit points on both tapes, lock in the offsets and autorehearse the edit to make sure you had it right, then execute the edit and record a bit past the next edit point, repeating ad nauseam. You could physically edit linear digital tape much as with analog tape (the system available at the time was the Mitsubishi/Otari PD 32-track, 1-inch reel-to-reel, and Mitsubishi 2-track 1/4-inch), but editing was very sensitive to error. You could “punch in” material in the middle of a recording, but not extend a recording by insert editing except by cutting and splicing. So, there too, recordings were most commonly assembled edited. On the reel-to-reel digital recorders, this was done with two machines, dub cables, synchronizers, time code and word clocks, locking two machines together and building a song piece by piece (I once spent near 90 hours across a few weeks working with an artist to build an entire album in assemble edit fashion, taking bits from three to five takes per song). Digital audio workstations were born as editors, with limited storage capacity and rudimentary processing capabilities—in some ways analogous to analog tape editing, but so very much more powerful, with random-access editing capabilities, no rewind times and the ability to slip and slide individual tracks with ease. I was reminded of this history by the Digidesign Pro Tools 8 review in this issue, which vividly illustrates how far DAWs have advanced in just a few short years, now effectively housing near the entirety of a very sophisticated studio signal chain including a bag of tricks that didn’t even exist in previous recording paradigms. Viva La Revolution! 6 ProAudioReview | February 2009 www.proaudioreview.com http://www.MyPARmag.com http://www.proaudioreview.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of ProAudio Review - February 2009

ProAudio Review - February 2009 Contents From Razor Slice To Mouse Click Hot Gear At Winter NAMM ’09: Studio Prioritizing Good Acoustics In Tough Times Digidesign Pro Tools 8 Allen & Heath ZED-R16 Analog Mixing Console Mike Rivers Nevaton MC Series Studio Condenser Microphones FMR Audio Really Nice Series Pre-Amp and Dynamics Modules Mojave Audio MA-201 FET Condenser Microphone Genelec 6010A and 5040A Powered Loudspeaker and Subwoofer Massey Plug-Ins De:Esser Hot Gear At Winter NAMM ’09: Live White Space Regulation: What It Means To Us Recording Live Sound Summit Church in Fort Myers, Florida Bag End P-Crystal R Loudspeaker Mark Olson & Gary Louris’ “Turn Your Pretty Name Around”

ProAudio Review - February 2009

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