Recording - January 2013 - 16

Samar Audio & Microphone Design (samaraudiodesign.com) showed the MF 65 ribbon mic ($2499), a handmade-in-Utah precision microphone with frequency response that’s flat (to less than 0.5 dB) from 20 Hz to over 25 kHz. At the AES Show, Samar premiered a Blumlein-array stereo shockmount ($450) for pairs of the MF 65 mics. Sanken (dist. by plus24, plus24.net/sanken) debuted the CU-55 ($1195), a small and lightweight side-address medium-diaphragm (18 mm) cardioid condenser mic with a very flat off-axis response and reduced proximity effect, suitable for guitar, cello, harp, and piano. Sandhill Audio (sandhillaudio.com; dist. by Eleven Dimensions Media, 11dmedia.com) made its AES debut with the 6011A ribbon mic ($3895), a brand-new design that uses a special composite ribbon element. Not only is the mic extremely linear in frequency response, but it can withstand SPL and air motion that would destroy conventional ribbons (including blowing into the mic) despite minimal internal protection. Also debuting at the 11dmedia booth: adjustable wall mounts and stands for microphone baffling systems from micco (micco-studio.co.uk; prices start at $299).

debuted at AES; it’s the 3500MP ($4499), a solid-state 2-channel mic preamp with an AC-coupled transformerless design, up to 66 dB of gain with stepped gain pots, and –133 dB noise. PMC (pmc-speakers.us) premiered the new twotwo biamplified speakers. The line’s first two models are the twotwo.5 and twotwo.6 (prices TBA), with 5" and 6" woofer respectively. They feature a 27 mm soft dome tweeter and built-in signal optimization DSP with analog and AES3 digital inputs. Pulse Techniques (pultec.com) premiered the MEQM-5 ($3495), a Mastering version of the MEQ-5 Mid-Range Equalizer with 21-position rotary switches in place of all potentiometers for enhanced reproducibility.

sE Electronics (seelectronics.com) was on hand with the new Reflexion Filter X (price TBA), a modern redesign of the company’s famous Reflexion Filter using lightweight composites for easier mounting and more affordable pricing without sacrificing audio quality. Prism Sound (prismsound.com) announced the Lyra USB audio interfaces for smaller studios. The Lyra 1 ($2350) offers two A/D channels with one mic preamp and two D/A channels plus an independent headphone D/A and S/PDIF; the Lyra 2 ($3225) has two A/Ds, two mic preamps, four D/A channels plus headphone D/A, coaxial S/PDIF, optical ADAT or S/PDIF, and AES3. Both offer low-latency digital mixing for foldback monitoring. Radial Engineering (radialeng.com) added to its growing line of 500 Series modules with the ChainDrive 1-into-4 splitter and SubMix 4-into-1 mixer ($350 each), Tossover multimode filter ($400), and Q4 4-band discrete eq ($700). Also new at AES: the Cherry Picker 4-way preamp selector and Gold Digger 4-way mic selector ($400 each), and a sneak peek at the new Six Pack 6-space 500 Series power rack (price TBA). Roll Music Systems (rollmusic.com) demonstrated its line of audio processors, including the RMS755 Super Stereo ($1800), a 1U stereo mix compressor with 20 dB of makeup gain, four ratios from 1.5:1 to 10:1, dedicated attack and release time controls as well as a program-dependent mode, 150 Hz highpass filter in the sidechain to prevent bass-induced pumping, and more. Royer Labs (royerlabs.com) showed the new SF-2 active ribbon mic ($2495, $3295 in deluxe package with case and premium shock mount). This is an active version of Royer’s original SF-1 ribbon, with sensitivity on par with condenser mics and less than 18 dB of self-noise. Look for a review soon. Rupert Neve Designs (rupertneve.com) was showing the 5059 Satellite summing mixer ($3749), a 16-channel design with individual level and pan controls, dual sends, inserts, and global Texture (output transformer saturation) controls for each of two separate stereo mix outputs.
16
RECORDING January 2013

Shure (shure.com) has launched the KSM9HS ($874), a variant model of the company’s popular KSM9 vocal condenser mic. The new mic offers switchable hypercardioid and subcardioid polar patterns vs. the original’s switchable cardioid and supercardioid patterns. The new mic allows for extreme rejection of nearby sound, or for a gentler polar pattern for less noisy recording situations. Slate Pro Audio (slateproaudio.com) arguably won the “talk of the show” prize for the Raven MTX (price TBA), a gigantic multi-touch mixing/ control surface, with analog monitoring section, that can be customized to the user’s DAW of choice. Also new at the show: Slate Digital Virtual Buss Compressors ($199 introductory price), a set of three compression plug-ins that have modeled features of famous compressors including the Fairchild 670 but present them in new forms. Solid State Logic (solidstatelogic.com) has released 500 Series versions of the E-Series EQ and Dynamics modules, the 611EQ and 611DYN ($819 each). The 4-band 611EQ features two different eq sounds, from the “Brown” and “Black” designs of the E console, and the 611DYN offers an all-discrete design with optional linear release curve and “over easy” defeat for multiple character.

From top: Radial Gold Digger, SubMix, and Q4, Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor (and Oculus), Prism Lyra 1, Sanken CU-55, Sandhill 6011A
http://www.samaraudiodesign.com http://www.plus24.net/sanken http://www.sandhillaudio.com http://www.11dmedia.com http://micco-studio.co.uk http://www.pmc-speakers.us http://www.pultec.com http://www.seelectronics.com http://www.prismsound.com http://www.shure.com http://www.radialeng.com http://www.slateproaudio.com http://www.rollmusic.com http://www.solidstatelogic.com http://www.royerlabs.com http://www.rupertneve.com
Recording - January 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - January 2013
