Recording - June 2013 - 4

PUBLISHER: Thomas Hawley
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER: Brent Heintz

EDITORIAL

EDITOR: Lorenz Rychner
ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Mike Metlay
EDITOR AT LARGE: Beto Hale
MÚSICO PRO EDITOR: Fernando Curiel

CONTRIBUTORS
Marc Urselli, Greg Arens, Devon Brent,
Mark Mosher, Paul Vnuk Jr., Yuval Shrem,
Jim Combs, Scott Dorsey, Allen Goodman,
Marty Peters, Eric Ferguson, Richard Shore

The Learning Curve
In this issue we bring you upgrade and update information on some major audio
production programs. As I look through these articles, I wonder what they read like
to somebody who is brand new to audio production? Is it a bit too intimidating to
see terms like comp layers, automation lanes, channel zones, fx chains...?
Some of these programs have been around for so long, they have evolved into a state
of complexity that could be bewildering for a novice. Take SONAR X2, for example.
Back in 1987 a company called Twelve Tone Systems put out a MIDI sequencer program called Cakewalk, for MS-DOS at first, then Windows. Soon it gained digital
audio capabilities, evolved through lots of upgrades, became SONAR, again being
constantly upgraded right up to the latest version, SONAR X2 (see page 46). Can you
imagine the number of man-hours that have gone into this evolution? What such a deep
program can do now could not even be dreamed of some twenty years ago.
DAWs like Apple Logic, Steinberg Cubase (page 30), and MOTU Digital Performer
(page 28) also have long histories, with levels of maturity and complexity that enchant
habitual long-term users and can be daunting to newbies. Compared to that longevity,
Ableton Live (page 20) is just a youngster, but since its coming onto the market in 2001,
it too has evolved into a very rich and capable piece of software. Studio One from
PreSonus (page 44), having first appeared in 2009, is now the precocious pre-schooler
among DAWs, and yet, at “only” version 2.5, it continues to impress with its maturity.
There are a number of other DAWs out there that are maybe more approachable to the
newcomer, Acoustica Mixcraft (reviewed March 2013) being one of them and Apple’s
GarageBand being another, for which we published a step-by-step guide with a CD back
in 2005. Which brings me to the point—where do you go for help if you’re not one who
has grown with a particular DAW over the years of its evolution?
Luckily, there are books (hey—who said books are dead?) that now come with
DVDs, so you have the best of both worlds: reading at your own pace, and watching/hearing tutorials on screen that can say more than the words on the printed page.
On page 64 of this issue we review just three such books, and you’ll find many more
if you research on your own.
But beyond just that need for speedy mastering of one particular piece of production
software, where do you go to learn the entire kit and kaboodle of audio production,
not just for records, but audio for all kinds of end-uses, from games to television to
movies to you-name-it, including the business end of it?
If you’re new to audio production, learning it all on your own, while not entirely
impossible, won’t be quick or productive at first. If you don’t have the time to wait
around for it to happen, and you are serious enough to invest in your audio future, then
a school can make it happen for you.
As one who used to teach in just such a school before taking on this magazine gig,
I was delighted to visit CRAS in the Phoenix, AZ area, a school that takes its stated
mission seriously. The school has been around for just about as long as this magazine
has been published, and it now operates out of two separate but interlinked campuses. Their curriculum impressed me mightily—30 weeks of classes, structured in a tentier system of three weeks per “cycle”, with 24/7 access to the facilities outside class
time. That’s a lot of opportunities to put into practice what the class time offered!
But here’s the kicker: Each student gets placed in a 12-week internship after school
ends, with real-life companies and studios and organizations, selected according to
the student’s personal aptitudes for the best match. Recording labels and commercial
studios may be dwindling, but audio is not, so it’s good to see that youngsters are
being prepared for the present and future in segments of the industry where their
skills will be needed.
Happy Recording,

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:
1-800-582-8326
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: $19.95 per year. All material is subject to worldwide copyright protection, and reproduction or imitation in whole or in part is expressly forbidden without written
consent from the publishers. All reasonable care is taken to
ensure accuracy in the preparation of the magazine, but Music
Maker Publications, Inc. cannot be held legally responsible for
its contents. The publishers cannot assume responsibility for the
return of unsolicited manuscripts, photographs or materials. All
trademarked names, whether indicated as such or not, are
owned by their respective companies.
Canada Post: Publications Mail Agreement #41491032.
Canada Returns to be sent to Bleuchip International, P.O. Box
25542, London, ON N6C 6B2

PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.

RECORDING June 2013

Recording - June 2013

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