tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55112465894596190682024-02-19T17:19:56.802+01:00Eugene Getman's audio production diariesA blog for people interested in audio production (music, audio books, postproduction, recording, mixing, mastering) and of course for people interested in my musical activities. Custom midi loops and preset packs + gear & software reviewsAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00882455097519176816noreply@blogger.comBlogger32125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5511246589459619068.post-81211582644942416292013-12-27T15:33:00.001+01:002013-12-27T15:33:53.479+01:00Eugene Getman's audio production diaries: Sariola's first official music video released!<a href="http://eugene-getman.blogspot.com/2013/12/sariola-is-proud-to-announce-release-of.html?spref=bl">Eugene Getman's audio production diaries: Sariola's first official music video released!</a>: Sariola is proud to announce the release of the very first official music video to the song "From the dismal Sariola". Directed ...Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00882455097519176816noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5511246589459619068.post-54605423595793695442013-12-27T15:31:00.003+01:002013-12-27T15:33:12.302+01:00Sariola's first official music video released!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Sariola is proud to announce the release of the very first official
music video to the song "From the dismal Sariola". Directed by Roland
Eichler and produced by scene4.me. Costumes made by <span class="_50f4"><a data-gt="{"engagement":{"eng_type":"1","eng_src":"2","eng_tid":"100004607341902","eng_data":[]}}" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=100004607341902&extragetparams=%7B%22hc_location%22%3A%22profile_browser%22%7D" href="https://www.facebook.com/agnieszka.osipa.7?fref=pb&hc_location=profile_browser" id="js_15">Agnieszka Osipa</a>
Costume and & Fashion designer. Some great news
will be announced within next days! Now enjoy!</span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00882455097519176816noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5511246589459619068.post-36839992646988684192013-11-12T03:54:00.000+01:002013-11-12T03:54:26.982+01:00How to choose an audio interface.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Audio production gains more and more enthusiasts every year. The market literally swarms with audio interfaces ranging from 25$ to multiple thousands. In this Article i'll help you to choose an interface that will meet YOUR requirements. Read on, pal!<br />
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First of all, you need to ask yourself, what do you need an audio interface for. Ok, obviously you need it to record/mix some kind of audio, be it music speech, or sound design. Let's put it simple:</div>
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Situation A: This one is probably most common. You're making electronic music and use mostly plugin synthies and drum machines. For this cause almost any audio interface will be sufficient. Since no multiple inputs/outputs are needed, you should choose a small interface with 2 or even 1 audio inputs and outputs or you could even consider to use an audio interface with no inputs at all, like the <a href="http://www.musicstore.de/en_EN/GBP/Focusrite-VRM-Box-Speaker-Simulation/art-REC0008520-000" target="_blank">Focusrite VRM Box</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsyBW37ftnDJ7j2ssocOGgupRyMmwqqN71x-u8t1PDwD-iUoSkR02GrFgDmCO4zsGefwGYJr58sZkmxyqP7BiCAAGNtJ4H7kM0SpKZh-5evA-BdLsLOtkdVKjM150KkQfsz3NKpqQaDE0/s1600/bcf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="331" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsyBW37ftnDJ7j2ssocOGgupRyMmwqqN71x-u8t1PDwD-iUoSkR02GrFgDmCO4zsGefwGYJr58sZkmxyqP7BiCAAGNtJ4H7kM0SpKZh-5evA-BdLsLOtkdVKjM150KkQfsz3NKpqQaDE0/s400/bcf.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<i> Pic. 1: Focusrite VRM Box</i><br />
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With this unit you'll be able to mix in headphones and select between multiple mixing situations like pro studio/bed-room/home-studio and nearfield monitors like the ns-10, adam, krk etc. Of course, you shouldn't expect the 99$ unit to simulate a real mixing environment to 100%, but if you learn how to use it and learn to know what results to expect, you will be able to produce good mixes.<br />
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However, if you want to use an audio interface with speakers (nearfiled monitors, or a hifi-system) or want to record vocals and/or instruments or hardware synthesizers you'll need an interface that has mic/line inputs and outputs. There are hundreds of these on the market and most of them are playing in the same quality league. From my expirience i can advise the T<a href="http://www.tascam.eu/de/us-144mkii.html" target="_blank">ascam US-144 MK2 </a>It has all the I/O you will need in an electronic music studio and overally offers good bang for the buck.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3sad_QB09vAvzghgOPCg5UoOT22uRLwBme25tpYQlgluMq0fsm2IPKeDCMJwz-8rOfXOYx0Mz11nL4y2gzFjK8H_BlMIbUP6X5orwDJuom6H97heWmRGVksRCwPq7wGe5VKTWSrUvF5M/s1600/3_Front.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="293" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3sad_QB09vAvzghgOPCg5UoOT22uRLwBme25tpYQlgluMq0fsm2IPKeDCMJwz-8rOfXOYx0Mz11nL4y2gzFjK8H_BlMIbUP6X5orwDJuom6H97heWmRGVksRCwPq7wGe5VKTWSrUvF5M/s320/3_Front.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<i> Pic. 2 Tascam US-144 MK2</i><br />
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You'll get 2 Mic inputs with phantom power for condenser microphones, 2 line/instrument inpúts to connect an electric guitar, synth or drum machine, an insert for an external haerdware effects unit, Midi in/out and s-p/dif out (for example to connect it to a hifi system without unnecessary ad/da conversions. This set of functions, along supporting up to 24bit/48kHz resolution is standard for the most interfaces in this price range (about 120$). Othe good examples are: Focusrite Saffire 6 USB (139$), Steinberg UR22 (139$), Alesis IOl2 Express (95$) and so on. If you want to invest more and get an interface of real high quality you should consider to get the Apogee Duet 2 (499$). This would be a longterm high quality solution for any home-recording studio. The only downside: support MAC only. For die-hard windows users the RME Babyface (540$) would be a great alternative.<br />
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<i> Pic. 3: Apogee Duet 2</i><br />
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Situation B: You want to build a home-recording/project studio to produce music that requires live instrumental recordings. The first thing you need to keep in mind, when choosing an audio interace is: Are you going to record live drums, or are you going to use some software plugins like Superior Drummer? In the second case you still can go with a 2-in/2-out interface, because you will not need more than to mics to record guitarsm guitar amps or acoustic instruments and vocals, so if you're tight on the budget, you should go with something like tascam us-144. For the beginning the quality of the tascam's preamps wil be sufficient, however i highly advise to get an audio interface with additional spdif or adat inputs, like some of the focusrite's smaller interfaces. The focusrite interfaces deliver great, neutral sounding preamps already, but for more professional recordings you would probably want to use a channel strip. A channel strip is a combination of a preamp, compressor and equalizer (sometimes also with gate, de-esser, enhancer) "taken" from professional studio consoles and will be able to deliver professional quality recordings. When choosing an interface, the most important thing about the preamps is the signal to noise ratio. However, not every manufacturer gives a precise description of these values, so you really should listen to the interface in the shop, or just ask your local dealer. I have heard pro-sounding tracks recorded with the Apogee Duet 2 or RME babyface, so if great quality is of big importance for you, you should consider to save some money.<br />
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<i>Pic. 4: RME Babyface Blue. </i></div>
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If you're going to record live drums, you will need an interface with at least 8 inputs. These are, of course, more expensive than 2 in/out interfaces. The cheapest 8-Input interface i could think of is the Behringer FCA1616 (250$). It has 4 XLR inputs and further 4 1/4" inputs, both firewire and usb, midi i/o and spdif, adat and s/mux i/o. I did not have the ability to test this interface, but when thinking about the price i presume, that they have to save on the quality of the components to achieve this low budget. And you're still have only 4 XLR inpuuts instead of 8.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTQNX1xxaVuktm78E2Ul6sCgc6P4LaK7au3t_KugM-H48yGlx_uAbICnxr9n6Xuv0FCiXoloit1hlCnkKTHVryyzi-5Ii8jtVUlm9qKxJ1rM9kdLuHdn6Ev7EAtu3NVZwR20qVHVcoUVc/s1600/345593_800.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTQNX1xxaVuktm78E2Ul6sCgc6P4LaK7au3t_KugM-H48yGlx_uAbICnxr9n6Xuv0FCiXoloit1hlCnkKTHVryyzi-5Ii8jtVUlm9qKxJ1rM9kdLuHdn6Ev7EAtu3NVZwR20qVHVcoUVc/s400/345593_800.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<b> </b><i>Pic. 5: Presonus FireStudio Project.</i><br />
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The Presonus FireStudio Project (399$) has 8 XLR-Inputs and a stere spdif input, so you will be able to record max. 10 channels simultaneously if you'll get an addition 2-channel preamp or a channel strip with spdif output. Presonus offers good quality for the money, but only works with FireWire and no ADAT-I/O. For 60$ more you can get the Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 (460$). Like the presonus, the Saffire Pro 40 has 8 analog combo xlr/jack inputs, 8 line outputs. But it has some more features to offer: 8 Channels of ADAT and 2 spdif (so you're be able to record upt to 16 channels, if you'll get an additional 8-Channel adat preamp and a spdif 2 channel preamp), 2 Headphone outputs, which is really great for recordign situations. You can also route different mixes to the headphones, so, the singer for instance, would listen to the mix with less music and more vocals, so he can hear himself better and you cann listen to the normal mix with your pair of headphones. Also the saffire pro 40 has better mic preamps.<br />
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<i>Pic.6: Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 </i></div>
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Alternatively there are: M-AUDIO ProFIre 2626 (FireWire, 449$). Mackie Onyx Blackbird (FIrewire, 499$), Motu 8Pre (FireWire, 499$). Focusrite Scarlett 18i8 (USB, 499$), Phonic FireFly 808 U (USB, 385$), Steinber UR824 (USB, 738$). </div>
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If you want to go more pro, you should consider some products of RME, Apogee (MAC only), Universal Audio. You'll have to pay at least the double of the "cheaper" manufacturer's gear.</div>
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Some mixers like Alesis Multimix series or Behringer Xenyx series also have a built in usb interface, however the affordable once do only have 2 channels and are mostly good for recording your current mix, but the quality is also questionable. </div>
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If you're new to recording & mixing, i advise you to not invest too much in the beginning of your audio practice. A professional audio interface will not do you any good, before you invest in acoustic room treatment, great microphones, good studio monitors and so on. Firtly, you should learn how to record multiple channels, excercise in micing and mixing and gain staging. It will take some time, until you will actually be able to hear and make use of the difference between cheaper and more expensive interfaces. If you're really tight on the budget, just buy an aused audio interface on e-bay, but bear in mind, that there's no guarantee on used gear. </div>
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Here are the most important points to keep in mind when selecting your interface:</div>
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<li>1. Quality of the pre-amps (Are they noisy? Do they color the sound too much? Do they have enough gain?)</li>
<li>2. Input/Output diversity (At least 2 inputs for electronic music and live music without drum recording, at least 8 XLR inputs, good sounding and loud enough headphone output (better 2), MIDI I/O, spdif (adat highly advised as well), at least 1 HiZ input for direct electric guitar or bass recording.)</li>
<li>3. Audio resolution (At least 44 kHz and 24 bits) Many interfaces support up to 192 kHz, which is in my opinion an overkill. Only few people can actually hear the difference between 44 and 48 kHz. The mosr professional recording studios i was working with mostly work with 44 kHz and still make professional production. The difference between 16 and 24 bits is however very significant, so make sure you have 24 bits.</li>
<li>4. As soon as you're focused on some interfaces, read reviews about how the driver stability is. You don't want your interface to crash your system or add glitches and other sonic artifacts during your recording session.</li>
<li>5. USB, FireWire or PCI. Both deliver enought bandwidth to record multiple channels without problems, however FireWire is sadly not very common in today's PCs and even less common with Notebooks. There is a possibility to add a PCMCIA firewire card to your laptop, however it costs extra and some people expirience sonic interferences when using these cards. If you have FireWir i advise to go with a FireWire interface, because it is very likely that you use lot's of hardware via USB (like external hard drives, printers, usb-controllers and so on) So you might get some problems with the bandwidth. PCI-Interfaces are only an option for a desktop computer and are not a comfortable as external interfaces, because you'll have to crouch under the table every time you want to connect/disconnect a cable.</li>
<li>6. Phantom power is crucial if you want to use condenser microphones. </li>
<li>7. Make sure that the interface you're interested in gets frequent updates. If it's not the case, there might be some problems that are ignored by the manufacturer, or are not capable of being solved. Maybe the interface is not supported anymore. Read some forums, to know user's feedback about the problems of the device. Manufacturers never tell about the downsides of their hardware.</li>
<li>8. Don't buy an interface for 2000$ before you actually have all other components of your studio of the same quality level. Better spend 500$ on the interface, 500$ for monitors, 500$ for microphones and 500$ on acoustic treatment of your studio. This will bring you much more than just buying a professional interface.</li>
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I hope that this article will help you to find the audio interface that you need and enjoy it! Feel free to ask any questions! Stay tuned! <br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00882455097519176816noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5511246589459619068.post-6217484927304680952013-08-26T01:09:00.001+02:002013-08-26T01:09:29.510+02:00Recent Sariola activities/Gear upgrade<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Recent Sariola activities.<br />
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The shooting of the video to Sariola's single "From the dismal Sariola" is on 22th of september. Drum recordings will take place in the Woodhouse Studios in Hagen, Germany, Mixing will be done at The Parlour Studio by the awesome Neil Haynes and my humble self. Costumes and decorations are almost ready. We can't wait until it's all done. More than 30 People are involved in the production process.<br />
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Some hardware news:<br />
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Still working on the rig. The new 4x12" cab is now an ENGL PRO 412SL, loaded, as always, with my favourite v30's. Tc electronic G-Sharp replaced with G-Major 2. (G-Sharp is now the backup fx-unit). Modded the bcf1010 midi controller with the eureka prom chip, for extra control of the g-major2, speaker and instrumental cables replaced through klotz rock master and titanium cables. Had to f*ck around with setting all the midi settings to work with the amp. behringer btr rack tuner now only works as rack light :))) Just one more 19" unit space left in the rack. I'll hold it for the new wireless unit. Can't decide which one to get. I think that for the next show i'll need a dedicated guitar tech to do all the switching.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00882455097519176816noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5511246589459619068.post-27211330368332425302013-07-26T02:38:00.002+02:002013-10-14T01:09:17.029+02:00How to setup your computer for audio production<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
We live in a time where a decent home-recording or even a semi-pro recording studio are quite affordable. In my older<a href="http://eugene-getman.blogspot.de/2013/02/the-most-cheap-good-sounding-home.html" target="_blank"> article</a> i explained how to set it up for about 400$. However not every pc is being used optimally. In this article uncle Eugene will tell you how to push your Audio-PC's efficiency to the max! Read on...<br />
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Most of the modern PC's nowadays are preconfigured to deliver maximum usability and user comfort. However your audio workstation requiers some special settings in order to function without problems and let you, the musician/engineer, concentrate on the most important thing:<b> the music</b>. There are many ways to optimize your PC's performance. Some of them cost money, others only require few clicks. I'll tell about both, beginning with most obvious.</div>
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PART I. Optmizing your audio workstation <u>for free.</u></h2>
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1. Background services.</h3>
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The most Audio Inerfaces and other hardware drivers run in system's background. By default windows sets programs to be prioritized in the processor scheduling. In order to improve your interface's driver stability you should set the processor scheduling for best performance to the background services. You'll find the settings in:<br />
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<em>Control panel > System > Advanced > Under Performance click "Settings" > Choose Background services > Click apply.</em><br />
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2. Deactivate System Sounds.</h3>
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Since most audio systems run in 24 bit/48 kHz any system sound caused by windows will very likely change your audio driver settings so the windows sounds will be played correctly. This is something that can quickly spoil your inner peace during the mix. In order to deactivate system sound go to:<br />
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<em>Control Panel > Hardware & Sounds / Sound > Change System Sounds > Down in the menu set Sound to "No Sounds". Also uncheck the option "Play windows startup sound".</em><br />
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If you feel that you absolutely need windows s´system sounds, convert all system sound files so they will have same bit depth and sampling rate as your commonly used audio driver setup. You'll find the files here: <span style="font-family: Courier New;">C:\windows\media</span><br />
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However i recommend to deactivate all system sounds.<br />
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3. Power Settings.</h3>
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By default windows power settings are preconfigured to save power. This is something we absolutely dont need in our audio system. We always need maximum power. Here we go:<br />
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<em>Control Panel > System and Security > Power Options > Under "Plans Shown on Battery Meter", select "High performance".</em><br />
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4. Visual Settings for best performance.</h3>
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Ok, this one will be probaly a bit painfull for some users who really like windows 7's cute design. Most modern computers have enough resource power to run windows aero and other visual effects without loading the system too much, but if you use resource hungry plugins any way to boost your performance is good, so:<br />
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<em>Control panel > System > Advanced > Performance options > Visual effects> choose option "Adjust for best performance" > Click apply.</em><br />
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5. Deactivate your network card.</h3>
This measure is quite important for maintaining low PCI latency of your computer. Even if you do not have a devoted computer for audio production and record and mix on your home pc, with internet, antivirus, office and variety of 3d party software, i'd still recommend to deactivate your network card at least when you're up to run a serious project in your daw. go to:<br />
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<em>Control panel > System > Device Manager > select all of your network adaptors and deactivate them.</em><br />
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I also advise to deactivate your Network Adapter in BIOS.<br />
You should also deactivate any other cards like Bluetooth controller, wifi card or a tv card.<br />
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6. Deactivate your PC's default soundcard.<br /> </h3>
In some cases your onboard or "normal" PCI sound card's drivers can interfere with drivers of your audio interface. Do the same as with deactivating network card step, with the difference that in device manager you deactivate your "normal" sound card. Deactiavting the soundcard in BIOS wouldn't harm also.<br />
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7. Deactivate Antivirus, Firewall and Windows Updates.</h3>
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Antivirus programms and firewalls keep your PC secure to a certain degree, but they tend to slow your system down, sometimes really hard, so using an audio production pc with firewalls and antiviruses is not an option. Of course an unprotected PC shouldn't be connected to any network or internet. But this rule applies to any Audio PC anyway. With all the security updates system tends to get slower and gathers bugs. Registry is growing bigger which also slows your system down. For a clean and failure-free audio system i strongly advise to install your Windows from scratch, so no other programms are installed, no non-audio-programm special settings are applied and registry is slim. Win7 Service Pack will work very well and without getting connected to internet or network will run stably for years. <br />
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8. Processes in the task manager.</h3>
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There are many processes running in the background besides your audio interface drivers. Some of them are crucial for proper OS functionality, some are completely obsolete for an audio pc. Services like ituneshelper or soffice have nothing to do on your audio workstation. This step requires time and patience, but this will pay out in your system's efficiency. Here are some of the standard processes that you can deactivate without worry.<br />
Firstly, click "Start" and in the search filed (or if WinXP clcik "run") enter: services.msc<br />
The window with all services is now displayed. You can deactivate following services:<br />
<i>Application Management (AppMgmt)</i><br />
<i>ActiveX Installer (AxInstSV)</i><br />
<i>BitLocker drive encryption software</i><br />
<i>Background Intelligent Transfer Service</i><br />
<i>Bluetooth Support Service</i><br />
<i>Print Spooler</i><br />
<i>Remote Registry</i><br />
<i>Branch Cache</i><br />
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These is just an example. You can of course deactivate other services as well. But please do yourself a favour and read exactly what the process is needed for and only deactivate it if you're totally sure that it won't do any harm to your system. <i>A good description is already provided for most services, just to the right to the service name in the services menu.</i><br />
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9. Non-Audio Software.</h3>
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All kinds of software that you normally use on your PC like microsoft office or some system tweak suite, video codecs, p2p applications and anything else non-audio will often cause problems on an audio workstation. For example the microsoft office suite slows down your system and most importantly it causes some vst plugins to crash. This is something you definitly want to avoid. Do not install any software that has nothing to do with audio production. Take it as a law. I also do not recommend to install video editing software, since some of them also access your vst plugins and in rare cases may cause interferences with your DAW and plugins.</div>
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10. CPU Overclocking.</h3>
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Modern computers are equipped with high-performance CPU's if compared to 10 years back. However sometimes even an intel i7 gets overwhelmed with multiple plugins running during a mix. Overclocking is a good way to boost your systems performance. Still, bear in mind that overclocking will increase power consumption and most likely reduce lifetime of the cpu. Nowadays computer hardware doesn't cost that much, but it would be a great pitty if your workstation dies during a running project. If you're really convinced that your cpu need extra Hz than refer to the manufacturers service manual. Try not to clock the cpu to the max: it could cause stability problems.</div>
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11. Harddisk Defragmentation.</h3>
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Yep, good old defrag always done good to your hard disk's speed. So it does with an audio workstation, where large ammounts of data are written and deleted frequently. Run it once in a while, it helps.</div>
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12. Raid Configuration.</h3>
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You can double your hard disk's speed if configuring 2 hard drives in a RAID 0 mode. This can only function if you have 2 identical hard drives. This option sounds great, but for the security of your data it's not the optimal solution. in Raid 0 configuration 2 Hard drives are being used as one, therefore all data is being splitted between two drives. If one of your hard drives dies, you will lose the most of your data, which could become a real disaster for a mixing/recording engineer. Raid 0 Configuration is only good for systems where saved data is not so important. Let's say, that you have your windows and all the programs installed on your raid 0 drive, where you also do the recordings and afterwards you save all your data to another hard drive. Raid 1 is a bit more interesting in case data security. If you configure 2 hard drives in raid 1 it will wirte all data on 2 hard drives, so you'll always have a back up hard drive with all the data in case one of them doesn't work anymore. Another good thing about raid 1 is that you don't need 2 identical hard drives to run it. The only thing you'll have to keep in mind, that both of your hard drives will then use only the capacity of the smaller one. So if you've got one 500GB hard drive and one 1TB hard drive, you will only be able to use 500 GB with raid 1. A combination of 2 raid systems would come in question. Raid 0 for system, programs and recording, Raid 1 for storing data. The problem is, that you will need an additional raid controller for your pc in order to run 2 raid systems. It will cost money, increase power consumption and more important it will load your PCI controller with additional work, which should be avoided in any case, if you ever want to do multitrack recordings. The best alternative to the raid 0 configured hard drives is an SSD (Solid State Drive), but this is not a free optimizing measure. :) For data storage i would advise an external raid 1 system, so you're double sure, that your data is not going anywhere.</div>
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13. Backup your projects.</h3>
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An average song recorded in cubase with a total of 20-25 tracks will easily get as large as 1 GB or even more. If you're not deleting unused data it will be even larger. As soon as your project is conisdered to be done or must be delayed for any reason, it is strongly recommended to do a project backup. You should also back up the project on a hard drive that is not being used for recording or the system drive. Use an external hard drive or burn it on DVD (and be careful no to scratch it's surface). This will give you the advantage of a clean and good running hard drive. And what's also important: when you do a project backup in cubase or any other serious DAW you can also select the option to delete unused data, that will make your backup much smaller and therefore it will run faster when you load it.</div>
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14. I only own one PC.</h3>
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Many people do not have a separate PC for audio recording for financial or aurial, or other reasons. As i told earlier a good functioning audio workstation is totally different from your normal home PC. But if you can not get another pc you still can go with your only workhorse. Just install a parallel windows 7 system on another hard drive, so you can choose on startup which one you want to use. Do not deactivate all the network, audio and other controllers in BIOS, as they won't work in your normal windows installation. Only do the system settings with your audio-windows installation. See? I just saved your money :). A fast and large hard drive costs almost nothing nowadays, but if you're still on a very tight budget, you can create another partition on your existing hard drive and install the audi-windows on the new partition. Feel free to ask me how you can do it, or use google :)</div>
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15. Back up your system.</h3>
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As soon as you installed your windows, installed all the software and drivers you need, configured the system to your liking and checked that everything is running as you want, make a windows backup. <br />
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<em>Control panel > choose "backup your computer" under "System and security" menu > setup backup (here you choose where you want to store your backup, be it a DVD or another hard drive. "Backup destination") > click "next" > save settings and run backup. </em><br />
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With this very first backup you'll make sure that you don't have to reconfigure everyhting if your system crasher and you also know that the system is clean without any unwanted changes, caused for example with badly written plugins or such. If you make some changes in the system a new backup is advised. However as soon as you see that your system is getting slower, stop doing backups. Note what software or system changes you've made lately, then restore windows from last "good and fast" backup and then install the wanted software and do the wanted changes.<br />
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I hope that this tips will help you to improve your audio workstation. Feel free to ask any question about it. In the Part II i will tell you how to choose and configure additional hardware and how to setup your workstation from scratch. Stay tuned!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00882455097519176816noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5511246589459619068.post-91969541374500014672013-05-28T17:34:00.001+02:002013-05-28T17:34:00.495+02:00Eugene Getman's audio production diaries: 10 hints on how to choose a metal amp<a href="http://eugene-getman.blogspot.com/2013/05/10-hints-on-how-to-choose-metal-amp.html?spref=bl">Eugene Getman's audio production diaries: 10 hints on how to choose a metal amp</a>: So you're up to buy a tube hi-gain monster, but you're not certain about how to choose the amp of your dreams? Let me share some ex...Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00882455097519176816noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5511246589459619068.post-51184337060023370702013-05-28T17:32:00.000+02:002013-05-28T17:38:27.920+02:0010 hints on how to choose a metal amp.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
So you're up to buy a tube hi-gain monster, but you're not certain about how to choose the amp of your dreams? Let me share some experience within 10 hints that will hopefully help you to find the amp you are looking for!<br />
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<u><b>1. Go and test 'em!</b></u></h2>
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There are tons of reviews and soundexamples online. And you can read up which amp was used on which recording and stuff. These infos are surely helpful, but you can't just rely on (mostly owner's) user reviews and produced or badly produced sound examples and albums etc. The only way to find the right one is to go to the largest store you can find in your area and test as many of them until you find a pair of those that you like the most,</div>
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<u><b>2, Preparing for the amp test.</b></u></h2>
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First of all, take someone with you to test the amps. Be it a friend of your's or a shop assistant. Another pair of hands and ears won't hurt. When you're in the amp testing room, ask the personel to give you a guitar similar to yours, i.e. with the same pickups, tuning, or, ideally, the same model (or just take your guitar to the shop). </div>
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<b><u>3. 4x12" Cabinet.</u></b></h2>
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If you already have a 4x12" cab that you really like, make sure that you test the amps through the SAME cab. The sound of the cab is almost as crucial as the sound of the amp. Even a great amp will not sound as intended if connected to a cab that doesn't match it's sound. Even if you'll have 10 cabs from different manufacturers, but with same darn V30's all these cabs will sound differently, sometimes even completely different. If you do not have a 4x12" cab, than you should begin to play the amps. As soon as you find one or more amps that you really like start to switch cabs, until you'll get the best tone.</div>
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<b><u>3. How to test the amp.</u></b></h2>
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Although this point appears to be quite trivial, it's not. In the first line, set all eq AND level knobs of the amp to 12 o'clock. With these settings you'll hear how the manufacturer ment the amp to sound. If you're looking for a metal tube head, you should start with the highest gain channel straight away. Who cares about clean sound?! Set the gain knobs to the point where you start to feel comfortable with playing and start to play and let the second person tweak the settings. It's important to run the amp on fairly high levels, because of the poweramp section. In order to show it's character, a tube amp needs the power tubes to be driven well. This applies to cabs as well. Their tonal behaviour changes with ammount of signal sent to them. If the amp doesn't impress you on 12 ö'clock setting, then take a closer look on it's additional features and filters, like depth punch, rough mode or others that significantly change the tone of the amp. At this point an expirienced person should setup the amp's sound. A competent seller is able to show you the amp's good sides. If still not impressed, go to the next amp. This can take time. But don't let anybody else to play over this amp, because it's imporant how it will sound with your hands. Setting like bass and highs to the max and mid to zero with all preamp gain knobs to the max should be avoided. This setting tends to sound cool on almost any amp alone, but with a band or while recording it's not really useable. </div>
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<b><u>4. How much watts do i need?</u></b></h2>
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Most amps come with 100 watts and this is fully sufficient. Amps with more watts, like 150, have to be played on louder levels to achieve the "sweet spot". Amps with less watts will reach the sweet spot earlier than the 100's, but will be more quiet. All in all it's horses for courses. If you're rehearsing in smaller rooms and play smaller gigs 150 watt will most likely be overkill. Amps with 50 or 60 watt will have to be cranked all the time, which shortens the life of the tubes.</div>
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<b><u>5. What's important in the amp's sound?</u></b></h2>
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This is very subjective and you surely should like the sound of the amp that' you're playing. But you should pay attention to how well the amp reads your guitar. How detailed is your sound? Does it add mud when driven to hi-gain? How harsh are the high frequencies of the amp? Is there a lot of sand in the sound? Is this amp too noisy? If you like the amp very much, but ain't sure because of the noise, consider to add a noise-supressor. Does the amp have enough gain reserve, or does it need some kind of a booster, like a distortion pedal? I personally try to avoid any distortion pedals on metal amps, because in most cases they destroy the actual flavor of the amp. A good hi-gain metal amp will have enough distortion to kick your ass. Otherwise it's not a metal amp. If you need the amp for playing your songs, then play your songs all along. It won't get you far if "Master of Puppets" will sound great with the amp, but your songs will not.</div>
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<b><u>6. New amps vs. used amps.</u></b></h2>
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A good hi-gain amp will most likely cost you quite a buck, so if you're on a tight budget it's a good idea to buy an used amplifier. However following things should be taken into final account: You'll most likely have to change the tubes, which will cost you about additional 200 $. If there are any technical problems with the amp, that will appear after you have bought the amp it will cost you additional money. And there's no warranty. On the other hand if you're saving over a thousand bucks, it's not a big problem.</div>
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<b><u>7. Choosing a cabinet.</u></b></h2>
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As stated earlier the cabinet is almost as crucial as the amp itself. A good cab that matches the sound of your amp will blow you away and it doesn't have to be the cabinet of the same manufacturer. The good news is: there are a lot of cheaper cabinets out there that beat the sh*t out of some expensive mesas, oranges and marshalls. You'll have to decide which one you'll take. Pay attention on how the cab handles the lower frequencies. How clean and tight are the lows? How can this cab handle high volumes?</div>
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<u><b>8. Band X used amp Y on the album Z.</b></u></h2>
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Forget it. How an amp sounds in real life or in a production are two different worlds. Also, most bands use combinations of multiple amps and/or multiple double tracks with different settings and then more or less heavily processed during mixing and mastering, not to speak of the fact that the band x has other guitars, effects and more importantly: guitarists. You should pick the amp that YOU AND you SONGS will sound great with.</div>
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<b><u>9. What additinal features of an amp are important?</u></b></h2>
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Many of today's metal amps (especially the expensive ones) provide some great additional features like cable tester's, built in effects, protective circuits, noise gates, midi interfaces, ability to store presets and so on. Which features are important and how much you're willing to pay for them is totally up to you. In my opinion, what counts is the sound of the Hi-Gain and the possibility to change tonal charactersitics of the amp. The rest is secondary. Midi interface or preset storage function is very handy if you're using a variety of sounds. Things like built in effects or noise gates are a nice addition, but i still like to choose which hardware i want to use with the amp, not being limited to the features of one single device.</div>
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<b><u>10. Oldschool tube amp with a distortion pedal.</u></b></h2>
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Some older tube heads have fantastic sound, but don't have enough hi-gain. In this case you'll have to deal with some booster/overdirve/distortion pedals. The problem is: it's not easy to find a good combination, because different distortion pedals sound completely different on different amps. The good thing is, that if you'll find a good match you'll get authentic and outstanding tone, but this will require a lot of time since there are millions of boosters, overdrives and distortion pedals out there. Many musicians use ibanez tube screamers and it's clones (808 and such). I found out that blackstar pedals tend to sound great on some marshall amps. You'll have to find your own combination.</div>
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Now, do yourself a favor, stop reading reviews and watching youtube and go to the music store!</div>
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Ok. For those of you, who like to have it easy here's a list of amps i would recommend to start with (alphabetical order):<br />
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Diezel: Herbert, VH4<br />
ENGL: Ritchie Blackmore, Powerball, Savage 120, Invader 100, SE<br />
FORTIN: Meathead, Natas<br />
FRAMUS: Cobra<br />
Hughes & Kettner: Coreblade, Triamp<br />
Mesa Boogie: Dual Rectifier, Road King, MARK V</div>
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Stay tuned!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00882455097519176816noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5511246589459619068.post-83292200172185509632013-05-22T18:50:00.001+02:002013-05-22T18:50:35.322+02:00TC Electronic G-Sharp review and sound samples<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
TC Electronic is well-known for expensive high quality effect processors in all imaginable directions, be it reverbs, delays, mastering processors or guitar and vocal fx processors. The G-Sharp is supposed to bring some of the classic TC Electronic effects (reverbs, delays and some modulations) in to a 19" guitar rack device for an affordable price. I had the chance to test this unit extensively and i will gladly share my expirience in this article. Read on!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpzqYBbEf8-uqFKronBFN1baYZeuGQSBzNM6ifV7bcZzfJCNlLP7mRbjIOM3yHrREMoM89yaQA_bHqsHfYRLQPeeaPtbtgzSnDkcIXJ10O_L6AdYH3pva0fo7jkLyQIpixL_fgbHd1Iqg/s1600/gsharpblog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpzqYBbEf8-uqFKronBFN1baYZeuGQSBzNM6ifV7bcZzfJCNlLP7mRbjIOM3yHrREMoM89yaQA_bHqsHfYRLQPeeaPtbtgzSnDkcIXJ10O_L6AdYH3pva0fo7jkLyQIpixL_fgbHd1Iqg/s400/gsharpblog.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a name='more'></a>First of all, let us look at the features of the G-Sharp:</div>
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<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Dual enginne guitar fx processor with delays, reverbs and modulation effects.</li>
<li>Clear and easy to use interface with up to 99 user presets.</li>
<li>MIDI input/output to control the device via external MIDI controller.</li>
<li>Software-Editor for preset editing and backups.</li>
<li>2 symmetric analog inputs and outputs.</li>
<li>Pedal connection (for optional TC G-Switch pedal, or other switch pedals)</li>
<li>Digital S/PDIF input/output</li>
<li>Killdry switch to eliminate the dry (uneffected) signal from the signal chain.</li>
</ul>
<div>
At first sight one could get a bit disoriented because of lots of knobs and text on the front side. However if we'll take a closer look we will see, that the concept is very clear and easy to work with. There's no need to describe all of the control possibilities of the unit, because the most of them are self explanatory, but i will describe some crucial controls, to explain how to use the G-Sharp correctly.</div>
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<div>
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<div>
The most important controls that determine the unit's sound are:</div>
<div>
1. Parallel/Serial mode switch. This switch lets the user choose how the internal sound routing will work: In the serial mode the reverb engine comes after the modulation/delay engine, so the reverb is being added to the previously delay-, modulation- processed signal. In the parallel mode both engines are used simultaneously.<br />
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2. WET/DRY ratio. I would recommend to set your amp's fx loop level to max wet, and then adjust the effect ratio over the frontpanel of the g-sharp. This would help you to fine tune the effect balance much more effectively. Adjusting the wet/dry ration is crucial for a proper effect tuning. Sometimes you'll hear that there's too much of a hall or delay, for instance. You shouldn't decrease the delay or reverb parameters first, but simply set a dry/wet knob to more of a dry sound. This would taim the reverb tails a bit and make the sound much more comprehensive, but still with sweet effected tone.<br />
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3. There are no presets in the device. The manufacturer considers all settings set to 12 o'clock are the sounds that give you an idea of this device's capabilities.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">
<b>The Test</b></h2>
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<div>
The G-Sharp proved to be high quality fx processor. The 30 reverbs, delays and modulation effects will most likely suit any musicians taste. The control parameters of reverbs and effects deliver a wide range of sounds and sound colorations. Even the factory preset 12 o'clock settings sound very nice and leave room for further experiments. I, personally, couldn't say that i was blown away by any of the effects, but they all are certainly very usable and deliver professional sound for a live or a recording situation. First i thought that 15 reverbs is an overkill for an fx processor and that they maybe should have packed mored modulation fx, but after listening a bit closer i found that these reverbs all sound quite different and each of them could be used for different results. Flangers and choruses get out of control pretty quick so some cautious listening is required, but if certain patiance is invested, this will pay off in a good sound taylored to your taste,<br />
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Below you'll find a youtube video with all the effects played through with a help of an re-amped guitar sound.<br />
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<i><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Lh2xY66k0BA?feature=player_embedded" width="640"></iframe>
</i></div>
<div>
<i>Video 1. : audio materials to the g-sharp review. All info in the video.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><br /></i>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
<b>The Impression</b></h2>
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I'd like to write this impression in a "things i like/things i dislike" way, so you can decide for yourself if you're up to get one of these.</div>
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<div>
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<div>
<u>Things i like about the tc electronic g-sharp:</u></div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><i>Good sound quality.</i></li>
<li><i>Easy to use.</i></li>
<li><i>Good connection possibilities.</i></li>
<li><i>Simple & effective concept.</i></li>
<li><i>More than affordable price (especially used).</i></li>
<li><i>Posibility of a backup if you'd somehow manage to create more than 99 presets.</i></li>
</ul>
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<u><br /></u></div>
<div>
<u>Things i dislike about the tc electronic g-sharp:</u></div>
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<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><i>No "wow effect" from the effects & reverbs if compared to G-Major 2 or similar.</i></li>
<li><i>Can only be controlled live with an external midi controllers, that are not included into the package.</i></li>
<li><i>Only few modulation effects, that rather sound neutral/lifeless (but still very usable).</i></li>
<li><i>Software editing doesn't always work as wanted.</i></li>
<li><i>No real factory presets, to show the device's capabilities.</i></li>
</ul>
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</div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
<b>The Conclusion</b></h2>
<div>
Ok, there are things i like and there are things i dislike about the G-Sharp. If you need a good multi-fx workhorse with a lot of reverbs and delays and good effect-tuning capabilities you're good to go with it. It handles the job very well, but requires time to get the right sounds. I'm a musician in first line and a producer and sound designer in the second, so some preprogrammed presets and fx combinations would make the g-sharp more attractive to me. I like to be impressed by cool presets that ignite my creativity and wake some ideas, without being forced to dial in effects and adjust the parameters to find something i like. It is very good to use on stage, if a good midi-controller (like the Behringer FCB1010) is available. The time between effect switching is very fast and therefore very suitable for shows. The unit is no longer available in music stores but can be still be bought on ebay for little money. The tc-electronic M350 seems to be it's successor and can be acquired for 180 € new in Europe and about 160-200 $ in US. I seriously doubt, that there's any device with features and sound quality and versatility of the G-Sharp fpr this money out there. If money is not an issue, i would rather recommend to get and G-Major 2, which has a lot more functions and possibilities. All in all a great product for little money!</div>
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Stay tuned!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00882455097519176816noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5511246589459619068.post-77975699500072079012013-05-12T03:15:00.002+02:002013-05-12T03:34:08.038+02:00Radial Pro RMP reamp box review. Big reamps for little buck?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Ok, this unit is quite popular and there are tons of reviews out there, but as always: I'm not just reviewing from my point of view, i'm delivering some proof to what i say. My big question on this one is: how big the difference between original guitar player and a re-amp with this unit would be? Do i have to expect some serious sound losses and if yes, can i actually make them up in any way? If you want to find out about the Radial Pro RMP more, that read on! Uncle Eugene will tell and show ;)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEFZVimMUz1wzEcIbmgBnqGKGQg0ZzSYXbTYphq0Qllr_VmTnG9ydTycGCuijmvrwET0SGwqtcp8iKX2HHU6clTOJUPZs4OSnaoXR-z5Or13VY65Vn8qu1n8hlsJRqEP7NZKKkpWGNw10/s1600/radial.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="385" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEFZVimMUz1wzEcIbmgBnqGKGQg0ZzSYXbTYphq0Qllr_VmTnG9ydTycGCuijmvrwET0SGwqtcp8iKX2HHU6clTOJUPZs4OSnaoXR-z5Or13VY65Vn8qu1n8hlsJRqEP7NZKKkpWGNw10/s400/radial.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br />
<a name='more'></a>It's not quite a random idea to review the RMP, i'm currently working on the recording for Sariola's new single "From the dismal Sariola" and I'm recording the guitars via the P-Split, so i actually get a dry guitar track for possible re-amps if i, for any reason, should not be pleased with recorded material. So i thought it would be a great idea to combine my actual studio work with my blog activities. To be honest, I'm always excited about how the review will come out, more spesific: i can't wait to know how the gear i'm reviewing will do during the field test. I was only doing real deal re-amps just a few times, most times for test purposes, rather than for clients or my own music.<br />
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Let's take a look at the unit first. Ther Radial Engineering ProRMP is a passive Re-amplifier. It converts your recorded guitar track signals from balanced to unbalanced in order to adjust the volume level to the level of a real electric guitar, so no unwanted audio changes occur. To describe it easier: you do not need to record the player every time you are not satisfied with the sound of the amp/cabinet/microphone. You just send your dry recorded track from the audio interface to the re-amp box and adjust all settings and hardware until you get the tone you want and record.<br />
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The controls are pretty straight forward: There's an female XLR line input and a 1/4" Jack output. A ground lift button for the case you have any noise and an output level knob to adjust the desired volume of the guitar signal coming in to the amp. That's it!<br />
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My main concern about the re-amp units is always how they would change the sound of my original guitar track? Would it add any noise or add unwanted coloration i.e. would the overall quality suffer from reamping? And this leads us to the practical part.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">
<br /><b>The test.</b></h2>
<div>
I recorded the original guitar signal with a split box. First ouput of the splitbox went to the audio interface, the second to the amp. Afterwards i re-amped the di signal from the computer again with the split-box so i captured both the re-amped signal from the amp and the dry di-signal to see how the sound would change.<br />
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<br /></div>
<iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F91778595" width="100%"></iframe>
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<div>
<i>Track 1.: The original reference sound of the guitar sent to the amp and captured with an sm57.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F91778591" width="100%"></iframe>
<i><br /></i><i>Track 2.: The original reference di track recorded to the computer.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F91778594" width="100%"></iframe>
<i><br /></i><i>Track 3.: The previously recorded di track sent through the ProRMP to the amp.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F91778589" width="100%"></iframe>
<i><br /></i><i>Track 4.: The original dry recorded di track sent through the ProRMP to the split-box and routed back to the audio interface.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
I also wanted to hear how the re-amped tracks will differ from the original tracks in a rough mix. The chances are high that in a mix a possible difference would become less noticable.<br />
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<iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F91784042" width="100%"></iframe>
<i>Track 5.: Original SM57 recording in a rough mix with drums and bass.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F91784102" width="100%"></iframe>
<i><br /></i><i>Track 6.: Re-amped signal in the same mix.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
As you can hear there is no big difference between the recorded distorted tracks. Re-amped tracks even tend to sound a bit better. The reason for this is that the output level of the ProRMP was a bit higher than the original tone, so the re-amped tracks sound a bit more present. The difference between the di tracks is more noticeable. However this should be expected, since the signal is changed due to ad/da conversion and non linearity of the audio interface. If we will take a closer look at the waveforms of the both signals we will find them almost identical. Again, the re-amped track is a bit louder, so it's peaks are higher.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTSN1uMCyKDSHsr7A1QDNm0S6hXRuowkdOIBzktDDCb9YWTgymq8d7CIAm-K2P8fJxFzUpo5hlDsHTWDgTq1xu3K-5hFl0VsE_7iH-5vfpYX5szuyrXYkiOpz0hG4QR6mZEHGZK-BAoNs/s1600/reamprecording.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTSN1uMCyKDSHsr7A1QDNm0S6hXRuowkdOIBzktDDCb9YWTgymq8d7CIAm-K2P8fJxFzUpo5hlDsHTWDgTq1xu3K-5hFl0VsE_7iH-5vfpYX5szuyrXYkiOpz0hG4QR6mZEHGZK-BAoNs/s640/reamprecording.jpg" width="228" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuFsKWN3muMskn5f3jlzNrDeEHqJhgFaaiXHY8J2TONvkGy48KU17J7394A7Qod_X5JiZZnCjg-IzJGQVE8xOiJQ8A9lcQ19wzxs-XFOBd0KBFEbowa1S3dQkRN9eNqEh6ZaaLPtTLK-M/s1600/sm57recording.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuFsKWN3muMskn5f3jlzNrDeEHqJhgFaaiXHY8J2TONvkGy48KU17J7394A7Qod_X5JiZZnCjg-IzJGQVE8xOiJQ8A9lcQ19wzxs-XFOBd0KBFEbowa1S3dQkRN9eNqEh6ZaaLPtTLK-M/s640/sm57recording.jpg" width="230" /></a></div>
<i>Pictures 1 & 2: The green-colored vaweform picture is from the original signal, the blue colored one - from the Re-amp track.</i><br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">
<b>The conclusion.</b></h2>
<div>
As we can clearly hear, the re-amped tracks sound very well and barely different than the original ones. Therefore, i can recommend the Radial Engineering ProRMP as a perfect tool for guitar re-amping without any noticeable quality losses!</div>
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For a small price (109€ in Europe, 99$ in USA) you'll get a professional re-amping tool that provides non-destructive guitar recording process for any budget!</div>
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Stay tuned!</div>
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<div>
Eugene </div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00882455097519176816noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5511246589459619068.post-70094893339219002842013-04-21T22:30:00.001+02:002013-04-21T22:30:32.422+02:00Shure SM57 vs Fame MS 57: Do you really have to pay more?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2u9O0BC4nLpT_CQ3SrPBkyjjxBCT_hkUijh96h7rCHMVtQylzUpf7qEg6rm7wPVZmwaVRcteGlPjUa9kGiG6eb2kSjqjbFnYK3fxcPaXYcBH-LDCPwBL3G1YGxTA6aEoJJ2fDnx2Vbo0/s1600/sm57ms575.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2u9O0BC4nLpT_CQ3SrPBkyjjxBCT_hkUijh96h7rCHMVtQylzUpf7qEg6rm7wPVZmwaVRcteGlPjUa9kGiG6eb2kSjqjbFnYK3fxcPaXYcBH-LDCPwBL3G1YGxTA6aEoJJ2fDnx2Vbo0/s400/sm57ms575.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Ok, they say that you get what you pay for and that a cheap copy can never beat the original and blah blah blah. But through years of recording i stumbled upon lots of exceptions to this statement. I heard some cheap condenser mics beat the hell out of some neumanns, heard some cheap preamps to sound on same level with expensive ones, cheap guitars that sounded better than their 2000 € equivalents and so on. Since i am using some Shure SM57s for recording drums, guitars and sometimes even vocals i was always wondering if those 30 $ copies can be nearly as good as the original. Every time i visited the <a href="http://www.musicstore.de/de_DE/EUR/" target="_blank">Musicstore in Cologne</a> i looked at the <a href="http://www.musicstore.de/de_DE/EUR/Fame-MS-57-Mikrofon-dynamisch-instrument/art-PAH0002980-000" target="_blank">Fame MS 57</a> and asked myself if they could be any good? I heard different opinions ranging from "peace of sh*t" to "even better than the original", so one day i just decided to pick one up just to solve these questions once and for all.<br />
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Let's take a look at the rivals:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdjYCiiZ8z0K3NIsCcOtSd5WhZYuprpp-nVbEQslaGvqy8Xe_i8993CeFLxoL0N-jiOCQsOdTKbpefDSSc7ouqffhkopezTpxtw8HdIoXcE4SwtBzFuXgd7JW-FOI5sd4LsEJnzcYVA7c/s1600/SM57.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdjYCiiZ8z0K3NIsCcOtSd5WhZYuprpp-nVbEQslaGvqy8Xe_i8993CeFLxoL0N-jiOCQsOdTKbpefDSSc7ouqffhkopezTpxtw8HdIoXcE4SwtBzFuXgd7JW-FOI5sd4LsEJnzcYVA7c/s320/SM57.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Pic. 1: Shure SM57</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><br /></i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnxRhoqGnS4KleQX_l1M8CD_5oK3dGGTDkPaGfrOOKj6PGYkuiI2zdZz9WCJ-R3KeEbOQ3dK2NWYqtEdefGhrtF8Ua0a2o_PWhJdDuCUvdIyCJp4QDyyPI4B7xevUMSqh2b8O7TzGdZzE/s1600/GALLERY_PAH0002980-000_2_images390.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnxRhoqGnS4KleQX_l1M8CD_5oK3dGGTDkPaGfrOOKj6PGYkuiI2zdZz9WCJ-R3KeEbOQ3dK2NWYqtEdefGhrtF8Ua0a2o_PWhJdDuCUvdIyCJp4QDyyPI4B7xevUMSqh2b8O7TzGdZzE/s200/GALLERY_PAH0002980-000_2_images390.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<i>Pic. 2: FAME MS 57</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
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Optically there is just a small difference, the size is almost identical. The first real difference was waiting inside. As i unscrewed the head of the Fame MS 57 one of the contact cables tore of, so i had to solder it back to where it belonged. This never happened with the Shure. The Fame has also 3 cables instead of 2 within. Can not tell if it's good or bad.<br />
<br />
In order to produce a microphone of the sm57 class for the price of a dinner at a mediocre restaurant the manufacturer has to save on something. My main concern about the MS 57 is how long will it serve me, even if it'll sound just like the ms57. This is what cheap hardware is known for. It may act very well at the beginning, but with time the quality gets worse. The response curves of both look quite similar, however i suspect that on really high levels the similarity would change.<br />
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<br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
<b><u>THE TEST.</u></b></h2>
<b><u><br /></u></b>
<u style="font-weight: bold;">1. Prepairing</u>.<br />
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My goal was to see (or better say "hear") how different both microphones are. In order to objectively judge about this difference i prepared following steps:<br />
<br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Recording clean electric guitar sound with the SM57 micing a V30 Selecstion speaker of the 4x12" speaker cabinet.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Recording the same clean electric guitar sound from exactly the same position with the MS 57.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Recording distorted electric guitar sound on medium volume with the SM57.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Recording distorted electric guitar sound on medium volume with the MS 57.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Recording distorted electric guitar sound on high volume with the SM57.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Recording distorted electric guitar sound on high volume with the MS 57.</li>
</ul>
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<br />
Furthermore, i wanted to hear how my guitar sound would change in a rough mix with doubled guitars and with drums and bass. They say that better microphones help to cut through the mix better, so i wanted to check this as well.<br />
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<br />
<b><u>2. The Recording</u></b><br />
<br />
The very first thing i noticed is that the Fame MS 57 is a lot louder than the original 57. On the input meter of the interface, where the Shure kept all in green range, the Fame striked yellow continuously. Here are some pictures so you get a clue of how the waveforms look like.<br />
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A little info about how to understand the pictures. All waveforms come in VERTICAL pairs (i did double track the recordings each time, to see how the tonal difference will behave itself in real life)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkZnD0wzCAaCHcDp2-PxLQvMPN9GSeSh5RBStqvyLEyHyI_FOPaRQyxO3xwxxCwqo2iX9CI3DGiH9e4jVBVv2Zlqvua1xUqCGFpmpX8S-vJSMUnJgaNo76JH9rCndlaf5CNVQIbuBAmVE/s1600/GuitarUnleveled.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="375" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkZnD0wzCAaCHcDp2-PxLQvMPN9GSeSh5RBStqvyLEyHyI_FOPaRQyxO3xwxxCwqo2iX9CI3DGiH9e4jVBVv2Zlqvua1xUqCGFpmpX8S-vJSMUnJgaNo76JH9rCndlaf5CNVQIbuBAmVE/s400/GuitarUnleveled.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Pic. 3: Waveforms (from left to right) - Shure SM57 clean, Fame MS 57 Clean, Shure SM57 distorted, FAME MS 57 distorted.</i></div>
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<i>Pic. 4: Waveforms of same signals running in the same order like on the Pic. 3, but adjusted to same level.</i></div>
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<i>Pic. 5: Waveforms of the distorted guitar signal recorded on high volumes. </i></div>
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<i>Pic. 6 Waveforms of the same signal but adjusted to same level.</i></div>
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The fact that FAME MS 57 is "louder" than it's archetype is of lesser importance, since you always can set the input gain to a smaller value. In fact, it could even achieve a better signal to noise ratio. The difference in tone is not that dramatic. Both mics have certainly slightly different coloration, but on the first listen i wouldn't prioritize any microphone.<br />
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<b><u>3. The Sound samples</u></b><br />
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Ok, let's get to practice. Below you will find the sound samples with my comments. Bear in mind, that despite the fact, that i placed the mics on the same spot a few mm variation in micing distane could and probably did occure. I also played the riffs multiple times. For laboratory environment i should have probably used a re-amp track, but i didn't (lost the reamp male xlr cable :( ). So these variables should be taken into account.<br />
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<iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F88874242" width="100%"></iframe>
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<i>Clip 1: In this clip you'll hear the sound of a single guitar track. The first half is clean, the second with distortion. There's a total of 4 riffs. Clean Riff 1 is miced with Shure SM57, Clean Riff 2 with the FAME MS 57, Distorted Riff 1 - SM57, Distorted Riff 2 - MS 57.</i></div>
Both clean sounds sound pretty similar to me. The sound miced by the fame mic is louder and has in my subjective opinion less detail. But it could be, that i played the clean riff different while micing with Fame. On the distorted side of things, we will notice a significant sound coloration if comparing to the shure. But still bear in mind, the second clip is louder!<br />
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<iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F88874237" width="100%"></iframe>
<i>Clip 2: Same material as in the first clip, but with both tracks doubled. The input levels are kept untouched and were not adjusted to the same level. </i><i>There's a total of 4 riffs. Clean Riff 1 is miced with Shure SM57, Clean Riff 2 with the FAME MS 57, Distorted Riff 1 - SM57, Distorted Riff 2 - MS 57.</i></div>
I actually have similar impressions from this clip, with the exception, that the distorted part miced by the fame 57 has even more differing character. Not in a bad way however.<br />
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Now let's get to how those mics will sound in a mix. Ok, it's not really a mix, it's just a drum part taken from a software drum machine with a bass guitar. I did not mix anything.<br />
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<iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F88874239" width="100%"></iframe>
<i>Clip 3: Same guitar tracks as in Clip 2, but with drums and bass guitar. The levels still remain untouched. </i><i>There's a total of 4 riffs. Clean Riff 1 is miced with Shure SM57, Clean Riff 2 with the FAME MS 57, Distorted Riff 1 - SM57, Distorted Riff 2 - MS 57.</i></div>
Here we still hear the difference in volume and in coloration, but due to masking from drums and bass guitars, they become slightly less obvious.<br />
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<iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F88874238" width="100%"></iframe>
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<i>Clip 4: Same track as Clip 3, but with all guitars adjusted to equal level. </i><i>There's a total of 4 riffs. Clean Riff 1 is miced with Shure SM57, Clean Riff 2 with the FAME MS 57, Distorted Riff 1 - SM57, Distorted Riff 2 - MS 57.</i></div>
In my opinion the sound difference becomes barely audible in the mix by now.<br />
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<iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F88874240" width="100%"></iframe>
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<i>Clip 5: Here are some distorted guitar track recorded on significantly higher levels, than the first 4 clips. The first half of the clip is with levels untouched, the second part (after a solo drum beat) is loudness adjusted. Here The first riff from the first half is the sound of the FAME MS 57, the second riff of the first hald is the sound of the Shure SM57. In the Second half Fame comes first, Shure second as well.</i></div>
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In the second half of the clip, where guitars are adjusted to the same loudness lrevel the difference is really small. During the recording i noticed, that the signal that indicated green to few yellow peaks on the input indicator with the shure, was always on yellow/red with the fame. This means, that the recording of the Fame MS 57 actually contains overloads. These can be just barely heard, because of heavily distorted guitar sound, but seen on the pictures posted earlier.</div>
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<u>CONCLUSION</u></h2>
You listen to the sound samples and you be the judge. To be honest, if someone would show me those tracks, not telling me where's the Shure and where's the Fame, i wouldn't tell which mic is which. We heard, that even on high levels of recording the Fame MS 57 has done well, despite of the fact that it is obviously louder than the state of the art Shure SM57. It does have slightly different coloration, but 2 shure sm57 would probably have these as well. The only concern is still, how long will the Fame MS 57 live. Only time will let us know, but for now, for guys on a budget i'll tell: You're good to go with the Fame MS 57. For the price of one Shure SM57 you'll get 3 MS 57 by fame + 3 xlr cables and about 15 € for buying a microphone stand. However, this doesn't mean, that i'm selling my shure sm57 and during a recording situation I'll still take the shure sm57 over the fame. Just to make s(h)ure i won't do anything wrong =)))))<br />
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I will gladly read your opinions on this!<br />
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Stay tuned!<br />
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Eugene Getman<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00882455097519176816noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5511246589459619068.post-68664794760934487882013-04-21T00:06:00.002+02:002013-04-21T00:06:27.731+02:00Behringer FCB1010, ENGL Savage 120, TC Electronic G-Sharp easy MIDI setup guide.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Midi is a great thing to have in a musicians arsenal. It could make life so much easier, if you only knew how to deal with it? If your answer's "yes" then this article is for you my friend! Uncle Eugene spent a whole night (well actually it took like about half an hour, but it was really late at night) to understand the complexity of setting up MIDI devices to work together andthen explain it to you! Today we will learn how to setup an <a href="http://www.englamps.de/index.php?id=36&tx_ddfproducts_pi1[uid]=17&iPhoneBypass=1" target="_blank">ENGL Savage 120 guitar amplifier</a> with a <a href="http://www.tcelectronic.com/g-sharp/" target="_blank">TC Electronic G-Sharp effects processor</a> and the <a href="http://www.behringer.com/DE/Products/FCB1010.aspx" target="_blank">Behringer FCB1010 Midi foot controller</a>. Althought this tutorial is about these particular units it still might be helpful for users of ohter amps and effect processors. Read on!</div>
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So, i was working on my guitar rig a lot lately, built an amp case with 19" Rack slots and built-in pedal board and the time was right to unite all the gear involved in one functioning mechanism. I'll make my guitar rig walkthrough in future, but for now, i'd like to focus on the units that have to do with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIDI" target="_blank">MIDI</a> controls. I wanted to have a flexible system, where i can switch amp channels, sepcific amp features and change effect presets with a push of a single button and i started to ask myself and google how this could be achieved. I was surprised, when i didn't find any specific info, but the actual user manuals. I read them and didn't get any further. In fact i became even more confused. The experts at the FCB1010 user group at yahoo didn't help either. It's kinda funny, that a guy who can deal with an enterprise computer network and with an atomic absorption spectroscope equally well has problems with a f*cking midi setup. So i fought. And won. And it wasn't that hard, really. You just need to understand some simple facts and i'll gladly explained them to you!</div>
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<b><u>0. Prelude</u></b></div>
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To get to the actual explanation of the setup please refer to chapter 2.</div>
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<b><u>1. The Goal.</u></b></div>
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My goal, as mentioned earlier was to control my amplifier and my effects processor simultaneously. Earlier i used two separate switches: one for switching between presets on the tc electronic g-sharp (further "g-sharp") and the second to switch between Master A/B and Presence A/B on the Engl Savage 120 (further"amp"). This setup sucked, because i had to push 2 or even 3 knobs to switch to another sound. I also couldn't bypass the effects on the g-sharp and couldn't switch between channels and other features on the amp. I would have needed even more pedals and this would become a ridiculous stomp ballet. I wanted my whole setup to be controlled easily, just as if you're switching presets on your Boss GT-10 or Line 6 Pod multi-fx pedal, with a little exception, that you've got real-deal all tube sound with high quality reverbs and delays. Of course, there are a lot of amps nowadays, that got it all built in and come with a handy 4-button footswitch like the Hughes & Kettner Switchblade or Coreblade. The thing is: i want my brutal Savage sound. Luckily just as many other cult amps it is midi-capable if you've got the engl z7 midi interface.</div>
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<b><u>2. The Gear</u></b></div>
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Let's get serious. We need to control the amp and the G-Sharp with the FCB1010. For example: we want rythm channel on the Savage with no effects on the G-Sharp with Master A and Presence A on the preset number 3 for the rythm-parts on the FCB1010 and on the button 4 we want to have channel 4 activated, with depth boost, rough mode and Master B and Presence B and a delay and reverb activated on the G-sharp. For this we need the gear to be connected as follows:</div>
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Behringer FCB1010 <i>Midi Out => </i>Engl Z7 <i>Midi In (MIDI Cable 1)</i></div>
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Engl Z7 <i>Midi Through/Out => </i>TC electronic G-Sharp <i>Midi In (MIDI Cable 2)</i></div>
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Engl Z7<i> Port A=> </i>Engl Savage<i> (special engl cable, that looks like old printer cable)</i></div>
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Here's a scheme:</div>
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<i>Pic. 1: Cable routing.</i></div>
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<b><u>3. The Setup </u></b></div>
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<i> </i>Now, that we've got our gear all hooked up we have to make all our units to speak the same language. The key to this is the so called OMNI MODE. I don't give a damn what it means, it just works. Let's make sure all of our gear that we want to be controlled runs in the OMNI MODE:</div>
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<i>1. ENGL Z7</i></div>
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The Engl Z7 midi interface has 4 small switches on the front side. To activate the OMNI MODE on the Z7 Just set the first switch (from the left) up, other switches can be ignored, the OMNI mode is now active.</div>
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<i>2. G-Sharp</i></div>
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To activate the OMNI MODE on the G-Sharp hold the Preset ON/OFF button for about 2,5 seconds, with arrow buttons set the channel number to the value CH 0. End of story.</div>
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Now we made all our devices understand each other. If we press, for example, Button 2 on the FCB1010 we'll see that the g-sharp switched to the preset number 2 (if there is a preset that is saved on the patch number 2, otherwise it will stay on the latest preset number). If you have a new Z7 midi interface, where no presets have been stored yet, you've got to make some.</div>
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Now, it's really simple. You just follow everything i'll write below and after one or two times you'll be good to go.</div>
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In order to store a preset of the amp settings you have to:</div>
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1. Select a preset number on the FCB1010<i>. Here i have to mention, that i somehow got problems on the patch No. 1 it just didn't want to recall the settings i saved on it. Everything works on the preset Nr. 11, 21 and so on. I don't know if it's a problem with the Behringer, with the Z7 or anything else, but now you're warned. Don't get confused, just take another patch number. </i></div>
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Let's say that we select the patch number 11 on the FCB1010 (Push button 1 on the bank 01). Press and hold the WRITE/EDIT button for about 1 second until the STATUS-LED on the Z7 begins to glow. The MIDI MODE-LED on the amp shold now also glow contineously. The amp is now ready to be programmed. Now dial in your settings. I press each button i want to change 2 or 3 times, so the amp actually sees that i made a setting change. Hold the WRITE/EDIT button on the Z7 for about a second until the Z7's Status-LED blinks 1 time. The MIDI-MODE-LED on the amp should start to blink now. Now you saved your first preset. Congrats. In order to check it, just go to another preset patch number with different settings, and then go back. You'll see and hear the difference. For further Z7 configuration settings: <a href="http://www.englamps.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Manuals/German/BA_Z-7-II_Interface.pdf" target="_blank">RTFM</a>. It's really easy to use.</div>
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<b><u>4. Effect Bypass, Effect Dry/Wet.</u></b></div>
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Alright, we made our first few presets. And we have fun with our gear, but then we have a little problem. We do not have any dry signal. The G-Sharp sounds best when the FX loop of the Savage is set to 100% wet. The first workaround that comes to mind is to create some "dummy" presets on the g-sharp, i.e. save a preset with both EFFECTS MIX and REVERB MIX set to dry. This is of course an effective solution, but there's a more elegant and interesting way to achieve full control. See the two expression pedals on he right side of the FCB1010? We'll just use them to either bypass or activate the effects, or adjust the dry/wet mix. This will dramatically reduce the number of needed presets, since we will not need any "dummy" presets anymore. Furthermore we even gain control over the dry/wet mix, which makes the whole setup even more flexible!</div>
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If we take a look at the manual of the G-Sharp, we'll see, that there are some midi command numbers that allow us two change certain control settings. For example the number 81 forces the G-Sharp to bypass the effects, if we need only dry signal from our amp. But how do we send this number 91 from the FCB1010 to the G-Sharp? We'll have to screw around with the FCB1010 a bit. Don't be worried, it's easy!</div>
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a) On the FCB press and hold the DOWN button until the green SWITCH1/SWITCH2 LED starts to blink. </div>
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b) Press the UP button, so the SELECT LED lights up. No you'll see that the LEDs above the buttons 1,8,9 are glowing. 8 and 9 actually represent the both pedals. If they don't glow just press button 8 or 9 for few seconds, so they start to. </div>
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c) Press the desired button (in our case 8) so it's LED starts to blink. </div>
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d) Press UP. </div>
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e) Now set the value to 81 (this is the command number we want to send to the g-sharp!!!). </div>
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f) Press UP to confirm. </div>
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g) For the first value dial in 0.</div>
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h) Press UP to confirm. </div>
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i) Dial in 127. </div>
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j) Press UP to confirm. </div>
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We just have set the values for the bypass, so the pedal is not pressed you've got FX if it's "pushed to the metal" than it's on bypass. If youd like it to make it the other way around, just dial in 127 in the step g) and 00 in the step i).</div>
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You'll find out about other interesting command settings of the G-Sharp if you'll <a href="http://www.tcelectronic.com/media/667801/tcelectronic-gsharp-manual-english.pdf" target="_blank">RTFM</a> !!!</div>
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I hope, that you will find this tutorial helpful and will be able to setup your gear correctly and have fun! Feel free to ask any questions! Stay tuned!</div>
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Eugene Getman</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00882455097519176816noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5511246589459619068.post-10651479952668446332013-03-11T00:13:00.002+01:002013-03-11T00:13:36.931+01:00NEWZ UPDATE<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Hey, just a small NEWZ UPDATE here!<br />
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1. Mental War recording sessions started this weekend. We recorded the drums with Mental War's drummer Magnus. Managed to nail 10 Songs in just two days. Guitars & Bass recording sessions coming up next!<br />
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2. Last week the vocal parts to Sariola's new single "From the dismal Sariola" were accomplished with some great results. Not only Loreley has done a great job on the lead vocal parts, but also added some great backing vocals and schizo effects to the song. We also started to record the vocals for the new song "Hexshadowed".<br />
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3. The filming of the video-clip to Sariola's new hit-song "Hexshadowed" is planned for July-August 2013.<br />
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4. Vredesbyrd's drum and bass guitar tracks are finished for all songs for the upcoming album "Imminent conflict". Guitar tracks for two songs are done as well.<br />
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Stay tuned!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00882455097519176816noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5511246589459619068.post-44475698877409754442013-03-10T23:52:00.002+01:002013-03-10T23:55:45.364+01:00Behringer BTR2000 review<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Today i'm doing a review on the Behringer BTR2000 19" rack tuner. This device received very mixed critics, so i just had to check it myself. The price (69 €, new) is unbeatable in the rack tuner range and there are some unique features to the BTR2000, but the question is: is this a good piece of gear or just a cheap piece of frustration?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1UO3YA9U4fhF66xZlgAxDAoQz5qQbp65KqZ02G2AtLahw7dlnmaSK9NXydOcwt0LOkLVftYjSlAgsUC9lQPt0lYTfhSZ0q-CYMrh76kt_hX74kzkhCiBqqVsTx-6JkgC2_AMIF_Zc9rw/s1600/BTR2000_P0389_TopFront_XXL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="77" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1UO3YA9U4fhF66xZlgAxDAoQz5qQbp65KqZ02G2AtLahw7dlnmaSK9NXydOcwt0LOkLVftYjSlAgsUC9lQPt0lYTfhSZ0q-CYMrh76kt_hX74kzkhCiBqqVsTx-6JkgC2_AMIF_Zc9rw/s400/BTR2000_P0389_TopFront_XXL.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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We'll find out!</div>
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Alright! Let's take a look at the unit from scratch:</div>
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<li>The Behringer BTR2000 is a 19" rack tuner for guitars and basses. It supports multiple tunings, like for standard guitar tuning, or a 6 string bass guitar, a banjo, and others. Chromatic tuning as well, of course. This is actually already more than i need in a guitar rack tuner, but there's much more to it. </li>
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<li>The tuner has a built in metronome, which can be adjusted both by manual input via the big wheel-knob or by tapping. </li>
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<li>The lower front side of the tuner is slightly stretched to front, so the 4 built in LED's will light your rack very well. </li>
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<li>The tuner has 2 instrumental inputs on the back panel, as well as one input on the front (which will cut the signal of the back's 1st input, if you need to instantly tune another instrument and don't want to deconstruct your rack) very practical.It has also 2 outputs, so in theory you could use it as a guitar splitter.</li>
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<li> The tuner has even a built-in microphone, so you theoretically do not even need to plug any cables in to the tuner. Awesome! </li>
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<li>The actual tuning display takes only 1/3 of the front panel space, but it is lighted very well and the user will be able to see his instrument's tuning from a decent distance. The tuning scale can also be switched from normal to fine tune, which means a scale difference from +/- 50 cents to +/-10 cents. Impressive.</li>
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<li>A small display above the tuner display shows the note that is currently being played.</li>
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<li>Last, but not least: the BTR2000 even has 2 footswitch jacks, for mute or mute/input channel select respectively. </li>
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The first impression is: WOW!. All these features make sense and the overall concept is really great. And only 70 €? Doesn't it all sound too great to be real? Well. this is the point where we get to the practice.</div>
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THE TEST.</div>
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A tuner is a very important piece of equipment, especially when it comes to recording. You want all your instruments to be tuned via one device, so they are in tune with each other and that's where practice goes different ways with theory. The response time and accuracy with a standart tuned electric guitar (EADGBE) were both alright. First problem shows up when i tried to tune my bass guitar. On the D and G strings both time and accuracy were OK, but on the A string the response time rises dramatically. The E string was really hard to tune at all. The 6 string bass guitar tuning scale of the BTR2000 didn't do any better. This is a big disappointment to any bass player, especially to those who play lowered tunings.</div>
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<i>What i DO like about the Behringer BTR2000:</i></div>
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The overall concept is really great and musician-oriented. Features like the rack lighting and metronome work perfectly. The cheapest rack lighting + metronome will cost you 70 € already, not to mention, that they'll take more space than one HU (height unit) of your rack. I also like how the BTR2000 looks. Multiple inputs are also a great feature. The tuner is acceptable (not great at all, but acceptable) for electric guitars with standart tuning. The display reads very well, even from long distance.</div>
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<i>What i DO NOT like about the Behringer BTR2000:</i></div>
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Most important of all, the actual tuner function of this device is a major disappoinment for a bass guitar. It also causes minor problems when tuning a down-tuned electric guitars. The power cable is soldered to the device, which could cause problems if the cable is out of function. I'd really like the display to be larger. This would make the fine/normal scale switching obsolete and imho look much better. The tuner should be connected to a separate signal chain, so it doesn't effect the sound of the instrument. This beeing said, it should be done with any other tuner as well, if possible. Also, the metronome volume should be a little louder, so in practice it's only usable if you route the metronome signal to an external device (a mixer with PA) to adjust the click volume.</div>
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<b>Conclusion:</b></div>
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<i>Who will find this device usable?</i></div>
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All in all it's good for guitar players, playing in standart tuning. It still works for down-tuned guitars but with worse response time. It is quite usable for rehearsal and gigs. For a recording situation i'd pick something else, like the Boss TU-3, which is a floor pedal, but with much better response time and accuracy. Bass players would not be able to use this piece of gear properly at all.</div>
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<i>What makes this device stand out from similar products?</i></div>
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Obviously the BTR2000 is packed with some great additional features like the lighting and the metronome. All brought into 1 Rack unit space. The price is unbeatable as well. The cheapest device of this class would cost 3-4 times as much. But will be a much better tuner. You still get more than you pay for, but this sadly only applies to additional features, not to the actual purpose of this device.</div>
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<i>Would i buy this product?</i></div>
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Most time, the only tuner that i use is my own ears. During rehearsals i only need one single note kindly provided by Sariola's keyboard player Morgan. Since i'm building my guitar rig from scratch and got the BTR2000 for 40 € it is OK for me, especially because of the other features. So i see the actual tuner as a bonus feature and the lighting and metronome as the main function. For a professional reliable tuner i would however grab something else without any doubt. Sorry Mr. Behringer. I am using a lot of Behringer's stuff and they have a lot of decent products for a small price. I do hope that one day they'll create a new version of this device with improved metronome functionality.</div>
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<b>Afterword:</b></div>
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I would gladly shell out twice as much for a device like this on the condition, that the tuner would work properly. I'd also wished that the tuner scale display would be larger. However, in this price range, you won't find anything nearly as versatile as the BTR2000. On the other hand it is a god damn tuner in the first line and it should do a lot better.<br />
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To make it short:<br />
For guitars: Great concept, mediocre tuner.<br />
For bass: Great concept, unusable tuner.<br />
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Stay tuned!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00882455097519176816noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5511246589459619068.post-69563338995632358372013-02-25T20:09:00.000+01:002013-03-10T23:33:19.602+01:00Behringer announces new Nekkst monitor series<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Behringer anounced the very new monitor series designed by the founder of the reknown studio monitor manufacturer KRK. Nothing special? New monitors come out every day? Yeah, but these got some really interesting features that i'd like to write about. Read on!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJLqGhL_yejwf7nX3rvXLRSSyitSvCVjMb_PL6j-7ewEGxdATlkfE9GtwUUsgdjIrG1Yh0tis4r5Xh8Dx3bW16iWPmtgFZnYymolv8g8fpZIo6hMKCe754pEYV8Ee6uPofs3CmFviXy84/s1600/k9.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJLqGhL_yejwf7nX3rvXLRSSyitSvCVjMb_PL6j-7ewEGxdATlkfE9GtwUUsgdjIrG1Yh0tis4r5Xh8Dx3bW16iWPmtgFZnYymolv8g8fpZIo6hMKCe754pEYV8Ee6uPofs3CmFviXy84/s400/k9.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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To start right away I am an KRK user myself. I worked a lot with the VXT's and te Rokits and know their behavior very well. I also used and still use some of the Behringer products (like the FCB101 MIDI foot controller, BCF2000 DAW controller with motor faders, ECM8000, BTR2000, Virtualizer PRO, Ultrafex Pro, Multigate Pro and so on). The most reliable items are those that do not deal with sound. I do use their sound processors for rehearsals or short demo recordings, but rarely even try them on serious production. I also intensively auditioned some of the Behringer Truth monitors and was quite unpleased. They sounded boxy and undetailed compared to almost any other speaker monitor in their price range. The very new Nekkst monitors, however, are packed with some great features and are indeed very promising.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7oJ2Le4Qmre83RciA0GFpCcSy6grnQFYAkIvn9i7E3CrO4JvuetdJtWIOYdSRuQ6YZU0YCHWMnv95-E5yETccKI61MWjVAmgfJO15prfZ7lmFDB82zEF_JEtwmcsJQpAcjyv73q8SNLc/s1600/k8b.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7oJ2Le4Qmre83RciA0GFpCcSy6grnQFYAkIvn9i7E3CrO4JvuetdJtWIOYdSRuQ6YZU0YCHWMnv95-E5yETccKI61MWjVAmgfJO15prfZ7lmFDB82zEF_JEtwmcsJQpAcjyv73q8SNLc/s320/k8b.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Both dsp controlled models K5 and K8 feature glass fiber woofers (5" and 8"), 1" silk dome tweeter, whole 4 (!) amplifiers bringing 150 Watts, ultra linear frequency response, "wave guide" chasis form that looks quite similar to the typical KRK design, XLR, TRS & RCA connectors that can be simultaneously(!) used with the USB connection. Frequency response is 40 Hz to 20 kHz on the k8 and 45 to 20 kHz on the k5 respectively, which is kind of a standard for monitors of these sizes. The most important and innovative features, however, are:<br />
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<li>Separately controlled limiters to protect the monitors from overloads.</li>
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<li>The so called "planet earth" power supply that should ensure noise-free audio playback and maintain good transient response.</li>
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<li>Extremely large "sweet spot" zone.</li>
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<li>Acoustic characteristics are adjustable over an iOS app right from the listeners position.</li>
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<li>Furthermore This App includes a selection of famous monitors models AND preferred artist listening environments.</li>
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<li>Also adjustable to sub-woofer operation.</li>
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<li>Bluetooth streaming. You can stream your music right from an iPhone via Bluetooth, which of course wouldn't be a reason to pick a pair of near field monitors but is a nice bonus feature.</li>
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I can not wait to take a listen to this monitors. If everything stated by Behringer is true these monitors could become the real game changer. The street prices are going to be 399$ for the k5 and 499$ for the k8. PAIRPRICE! </div>
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I'll write a full blown review, as soon as i get my hands on the Behringer's new multitalents!</div>
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Stay tuned!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00882455097519176816noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5511246589459619068.post-91006307536661346362013-02-16T15:10:00.000+01:002013-02-25T17:22:00.318+01:00The most cheap GOOD sounding home recording studio.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTcN5QGO1IkjS5bdg-yGkYZ47l947RsqSpxBmDCSrcl3ksgN0oFV-ft1J2P2798Mk_M3w1WUZET5l5QvflLHsTmQ61nPUNPQIUTUYqXNAn1cdxT7fAy5tsDbFSM7GpdvJ53yr2DXgiHLs/s1600/hnomerecordingstudio.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTcN5QGO1IkjS5bdg-yGkYZ47l947RsqSpxBmDCSrcl3ksgN0oFV-ft1J2P2798Mk_M3w1WUZET5l5QvflLHsTmQ61nPUNPQIUTUYqXNAn1cdxT7fAy5tsDbFSM7GpdvJ53yr2DXgiHLs/s400/hnomerecordingstudio.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Hey folks!<br />
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In this article i'd like to tell you how to arrange a decent home recording studio. Homerecording is very popular nowadays and since there are tons of hard- and software out there that is more than affordable almost everybody willing to record their music or audiobooks can jump in quite cheap. I'm going to show you a few ways to "build" your home studio on a budget and also give you some tips and workarounds to save the cash and still maintain quality and comfort.<br />
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Let us discuss, which elements of a recording studio have to be there in any case before getting more special.<br />
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1. Obviously you need a central unit that stores and handles your recordings. In most cases it is going to be <b><span style="color: red;">your computer</span></b>. Computers are quite cheap and really efficient nowadays, so your normal 500-1000 $ PC will handle the job very well. You still can use an hd-recorder, adat-recorder or a tape machine, or whatever, but the chances are high that you already have a PC, so you do not need to spend extra chash for this devices.<br />
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2. To get your music or speech inside a PC you need a <b><span style="color: red;">sound card</span></b>. All computers have sound cards built in and even have inputs for a microphone and outputs for speakers and headphones. However your normal sound card will not deliver enough quality, headroom and I/O diversity (Input/Output). It will also not be able to handle virtual instruments and effects while using your DAW (Digital Audio Workstation). So you will need a special soundcard that support the ASIO protocol. There are miriads of <b><span style="color: red;">audio interfaces</span></b> out there with prices varying between 20$ and a few K. In most cases these are external devices, that you connect to the pc via USB or firewire. There are also PCI sound cards that you actually build in your PC, but an external device would be more elegant and much more comfortable to use, since you wil not need to crouch under your table if you want to connect a Mic or Instrument cable.<br />
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3. You also want to hear what you record, so you need some <b style="color: red;">speakers. </b>At the very beginning of your audio journey your 50$ Multimedia 2.1 systems will be sufficient. When i began to record music i just connected my home stereo to the sound card. This possibility is also great if you've got a decent stereo system, or maybe a hifi system. A bit later you will need some <b><span style="color: red;">monitors</span></b> (not the lcd one's, but audio monitors) and a set or two of <b><span style="color: red;">headphones</span></b>.<br />
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4. Last, but not least: you need some software to record and edit your music in. This kind of software is called a <b><span style="color: red;">DAW</span></b> (Digital Audio Workstation). Most common DAWs are: Cubase, Pro Tools, FL Studio, Reason, Acid, Live and so on. The bad news is that a professional DAW like cubase costs a lot of money. The good news however is, that if you buy an audio interface you will get a lite edition of some DAW (Cubase LE, for instance) for free. These lite editions have their limitations if compared to original software, but for the time being they will fully satisfy your needs.<br />
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Ok! Now we know what we need for ANY recording studio: <i>Computer, Audio interface, Speakers and a DAW. </i>Let us get a bit more special. There are some different types of a home-recording studios regarding the needs of the artist/engineer. The main difference between those lie in the art of music/production that is going to be written and recorded in this studio. 2 major types of a home recording studio would therefore be: the electronic music home studio and the live music home studio. However it could be a home studio that is only specialized for recording voice (singing or speech).<br />
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<i>Type 1: Electronic Music Home Studio</i><br />
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This one would be the most common and affordable studio out there, since an eceltronic music producer does not need acoustic or electric instruments. Everything you need for a basic electronic music home studio is already mentioned earlier. You will also need some software or hardware synthesizers for your tracks. Some advanced studios would most likely use a controller/master keyboard, external synthesizers and or drum machines, samplers and other outboard equipment. But hey, we're just at the beginning, remember? Let's keep it easy. Oh yeah, an electronic music studio could also use a microphone (In case you're about to make hip hop or some pop music you in fact will NEED one or more).<br />
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<i>Type 2: Live Music Home Studio</i><br />
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Here, besides the 4 points mentioned earlier you will obviously need musical instruments :), microphones and some degree of sound isolation. If you're up to record drums as well, you will need and audio interface with multiple inputs.<br />
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To make this global info more comprehensive, let us take a look at s modt common setup on the following diagram::<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlgdkdVY0Ue8ns5fYQMBVYqG6fq1uZ2MNsI6V_viE-QH7AJj73FJGqWcBYPmlLvNPOnWFlvDraKXFJm2nWm5JgFlgN1hf7By_PlH2cbRvNdUYm-VBy_p8XliU2W_4-5T2uLcK5fNn7lhc/s1600/Home_recording_Setup_1+(3).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="371" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlgdkdVY0Ue8ns5fYQMBVYqG6fq1uZ2MNsI6V_viE-QH7AJj73FJGqWcBYPmlLvNPOnWFlvDraKXFJm2nWm5JgFlgN1hf7By_PlH2cbRvNdUYm-VBy_p8XliU2W_4-5T2uLcK5fNn7lhc/s640/Home_recording_Setup_1+(3).jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">pic. 1: A typical home-recording studio setup</span></i><br />
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Our central unit that connects all the components together is the audio interface. An audio signal that is being captured by a microphone (voice, acoustic instrument or instrument amplifier) will be connected to the mic input of the audio interface where it will be converted from analog to digital signal (AD) and stored on the hard drive of the computer through the respective DAW where it will be edited. To hear this signal we connect a pair of speakers (most likely studio monitors or headphones) to the audio output of the audio interface. At this point the recorded and digitalized signal will be converted from digital to analog, so we can actually hear it through the speakers (DA). If we need to play a virtual instrument a midi keyboard is needed. It will be connected via midi cable to the midi input of our interface, Most DAWs however support control of the virtual instruments by pushing the buttons on you pc-keyboard and for playing simple melodies your pc keyboard is sufficient. More complicated keyboard passages can be actually drawn with a pencil tool of the DAW and if you are not an expirienced piano player this will be the way to go for you. On the other hand, nowadays, you can buy a master keyboard for 50$ or even cheaper if used, that will not only provide a piano keyboard, but some additional control functions (like faders, free assignable buttons or pads) as well.<br />
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At this point where the AD/DA conversion was mentioned it is worth telling that certain digital audio standarts should be kept in mind in order to maintain good quality of your recordings and mixes. The most common standarts for digital audio production are 44.000 Hz/16 Bit (CD-Quality) or 48.000 Hz/24 Bit. I always use the 48 kHz/24 bit resolution for my recording and mixes and strongly recommend to use it. 95% of todays audio interfaces support these resolutions.<br />
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<span style="color: red;"><b><u>The practical part</u></b></span>
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Now, that we learned the basics of a home recording studio let's try and see how we can build our home recording studio on the most low budget. Most of audio production beginners do not have the resources to buy high end or even mid ranged audio gear. But this doesn't mean, that you won't be able to achieve good sound quality while not spending thousands of dollars/euros. To the contrary: it is really affordable.<br />
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Through the years of audio production practice i had to deal with all kinds of gear and i can tell that there are a lot of cheap devices out there that are not worse and sometimes even better than the "pro" gear made by reknown manufacturers. Of course, sometimes you have to spend some cash to achieve good quality, but i'll at least show you the cheapest way to achieve good sound with cheap gear that i had expirinece with.<br />
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Let's calculate the most cheap GOOD home recording studio.<br />
In order to save some cash, it's obviously a good solution to buy used gear. You'll get almost every device on E-Bay for half of the price or even cheaper. However, it must be said, that there is a certain degree of risk when buying used gear, because there is no warranty on used gear.<br />
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<span style="color: red;">The cheapest GOOD home recording studio set-up ever:</span><br />
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For the audio interface i recommend any interface of the Tascam's US-122 or 144 line. These where the first compact cheap audio interfaces on the market. They have 2 good sounding microphone preamps with xlr connections and phantom power and instrument inputs, separate headphone output, midi in- and output and a usb connection for the computer. The tascam supports audio up to 48.000 Hz at 24 bit. I used the very first US-122 and in fact, still use it for quick idea recordings if i'm too lazy to use my main setup.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEici4FqPdn6dTvU-SWa-CN2dBKBVYLt22IdUNl2QLnCc_oHWAMU6ltA_2pf9JL0c-krLTJWj4fwj2rsTM-_qdqObLxOqtF_vEUACcptGiK1TWgavC-fnY-quEDb1blwooY1VCuIDR8yHAA/s1600/us122.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="274" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEici4FqPdn6dTvU-SWa-CN2dBKBVYLt22IdUNl2QLnCc_oHWAMU6ltA_2pf9JL0c-krLTJWj4fwj2rsTM-_qdqObLxOqtF_vEUACcptGiK1TWgavC-fnY-quEDb1blwooY1VCuIDR8yHAA/s320/us122.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Pic. 2: Tascam US-122L</span></i><br />
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Behringer is known for producing a wide range of cheap gear. In many cases their products sound cheap as well. But there are some pleasant exceptions. In our case it's the B-1. Behringers large diaphragm condenser microphone. This mic sounds very good and captures every nuance of the voice or the acoustic instrument. If treated carefully this mic will serve you for many years. I did an blind A/B comparisson test with the B-1 vs a Neumann TLM 103 that costs about 900 € new (or about 600 € used) and after this blind test a friend of mine who owned both mics sold the Neumann without any regret.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs1SxnEKr_FtWkvpltGZt9Gv6hKFrU8mlCDLBjjmnQwtXwXyOgMVgXMXz1G1Hms4prpQ6cHHognta-5kwoaVNLXpSJ0gqMVTijNXTVNQnK_V2i7gvsAhDrCCIEuOAdp8fZLJE7ALTvmIA/s1600/b-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs1SxnEKr_FtWkvpltGZt9Gv6hKFrU8mlCDLBjjmnQwtXwXyOgMVgXMXz1G1Hms4prpQ6cHHognta-5kwoaVNLXpSJ0gqMVTijNXTVNQnK_V2i7gvsAhDrCCIEuOAdp8fZLJE7ALTvmIA/s320/b-1.jpg" width="118" /></a></div>
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Pic. 3: Behringer B-1 large diaphragm condenser microphone</span></i><br />
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The second microphone would be a dynimaic one. This one you'll only gonna need if you want to record some really loud instruments or a guitar amplifier. The cheapest way to go would be the fame ms57 which is a copy of the original legendary shure sm 57. It costs a fracture of the shure but sounds quite decent. In fact the difference is not that big and for a beginner it will do the job very well.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd_vj6hrFyOkVqXqQNLdlQXxbjOxbLfFccoCZTZn9mUAHVJuCP3bztwuGN2L-fU6rNYpB4Wk1pU4hm_T6Jftgh_tv5bPjiT2ErNAL8ziRteE9Ow_fYheFLzxyc8aJhefkz1d3_yJcfrvQ/s1600/ms57.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd_vj6hrFyOkVqXqQNLdlQXxbjOxbLfFccoCZTZn9mUAHVJuCP3bztwuGN2L-fU6rNYpB4Wk1pU4hm_T6Jftgh_tv5bPjiT2ErNAL8ziRteE9Ow_fYheFLzxyc8aJhefkz1d3_yJcfrvQ/s320/ms57.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Pic. 4: Fame MS-57 dynamic microphone</span></i><br />
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The cheapest studio nearfield monitors that i can advise are the ESI nEar05. Ok there are a lot of better speakers out there. But you won't get a comparable sound quality for the same buck nowhere. These monitors will deliver decent sound. Good detail, stereo imaging, but limited frequency response due to small size. If you got a bit more cash, i'd recommend to go with the KRK Rokit 5. They cost twice as much, but are really good.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEuEPWNYt9Nz79hyws6hbaov3oMFPx_x8Ggti5UFfmBU6-RavsTCbh-P6JmrCxzV1HYXTCh87mAxrHwZO_m3pyVM1phRvIzwaG5JrF94bayI3GPThMDHC2PkCx1cLATkmZsnrgsrLXVnc/s1600/esinear05.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEuEPWNYt9Nz79hyws6hbaov3oMFPx_x8Ggti5UFfmBU6-RavsTCbh-P6JmrCxzV1HYXTCh87mAxrHwZO_m3pyVM1phRvIzwaG5JrF94bayI3GPThMDHC2PkCx1cLATkmZsnrgsrLXVnc/s320/esinear05.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-x0ftuPqfREIhhtrN5bZEVLdwNYOhWVQCv0iVmbzl1wk7xmEaLRqpeUlc2LwT8Pgw-_j1F6KhkxKz7w47RmyEyNB9QWEr7LCCDHwRocLM4BMmrzp05du_K6LD0sPwHz00_tM3-c5eOgI/s1600/rokit5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-x0ftuPqfREIhhtrN5bZEVLdwNYOhWVQCv0iVmbzl1wk7xmEaLRqpeUlc2LwT8Pgw-_j1F6KhkxKz7w47RmyEyNB9QWEr7LCCDHwRocLM4BMmrzp05du_K6LD0sPwHz00_tM3-c5eOgI/s200/rokit5.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Pics 5 & 6: Nearfield Monitors: ESI nEar 05 (left) KRK Rokit 5 (right)</span></i><br />
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For the master keyboard i have chosen the Fame's KC-25 it is small, really cheap and does the job.It also has a fader and some other knobs to control your DAW. If you're about to record some complicated piano parts you'll probably need a full sized midi keyboard with 88 keys. The cheapest device out there is the M-Audio Keystation 88.<br />
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<span style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Pic. 7: FAME KC-25</span></i></span></div>
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I allso recommend to buy some good quality cables instead of the cheap ones, because they will serve you for a longer period of time without going down and add less noise. But if you want to try it cheap it's alright, because you get them nowadays almost for free.<br />
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Let's calculate it all:<br />
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<i><span style="color: lime;">Audio/midi interface:</span> tascam us-122l - 90€ new, 50€ used (Steiberg Cubase LE DAW for free in the package)</i><br />
<i><span style="color: lime;">Microphone(condenser, for vocals, acoustic instruments)</span>: Behringer B1 - 80€ new, 40 € used</i><br />
<i><span style="color: lime;">Microphone 2 (dynamic, for electric instruments, or loud acoustic instruments)</span>: Fame MS57 - 32€ new, with cable, 15€ used</i><br />
<i><span style="color: lime;">Studio monitors:</span> ESI nEar 05 - 150€ new, 80€ used</i><br />
<i><span style="color: lime;">Master Keyboard:</span> Fame KC-25 - 33€ new, 15€ used</i><br />
<i><span style="color: lime;">1 midi cable:</span> 10€ new, 5 € used</i><br />
<i><span style="color: lime;">2 microphone cables:</span> 20€ new, 10 € used</i><br />
<i><span style="color: lime;">2 instrument cables for the studio monitors:</span> 25€ new, 10$ used</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Final calculation:</i><br />
<i>Used setup: 225€ / 300$</i><br />
<i>New setup: 435€/ 580$</i><br />
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As we see 230 € or 300 $ is not much at all. Almost anybody can afford it. In the worst case you can still sell this gear for the same money.<br />
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This setup will allow you to record and mix music and get decent results. Remember, that the quality of you music is in the first line defined by your musical skills and talent and not by the quality of your gear. You will be able to put your recordings onto your computer, edit them and handle almost any musical genre out there. There are miriads of free plug ins and virtual instruments on the web. Many of them sound just as good as their commercial competitors. However, i recommend not to download hundreds of plugins and vst instruments, but to limit the ammount of them and learn how to use them. It's always better to have fewer tools, that you know well and can handle good, rather then being torn apart between 20 diferent compressor plugins that will most likely act the same. It's ok to check out different plugins to find the one that you will like more.<br />
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I hope that this tutorial will help you to find an easy way to step in to the music production world <b>and let your creativity roll! </b><br />
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Do not hesitate to ask questions about the topic. I'll be glad to help you out.<br />
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Stay tuned!<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00882455097519176816noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5511246589459619068.post-15489019585860613932013-02-10T02:48:00.003+01:002013-02-10T02:48:29.565+01:00Eugene Getman's audio production diaries: Sariola's unpublished insturmental soundtrack<a href="http://eugene-getman.blogspot.com/2013/02/sariolas-unpublished-insturmental.html?spref=bl">Eugene Getman's audio production diaries: Sariola's unpublished insturmental soundtrack</a>: Hey there! Got a new/old Sariola instrumental soundtrack for a phantasy book here. Published for the very first time! Check it out ...Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00882455097519176816noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5511246589459619068.post-7808419053253199112013-02-10T02:48:00.001+01:002013-02-10T02:48:02.141+01:00Sariola's unpublished insturmental soundtrack<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Hey there!<br />
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Got a new/old Sariola instrumental soundtrack for a phantasy book here. Published for the very first time! Check it out</div>
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<iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F78582148" width="100%"></iframe>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfI7u5lOFEyIYUkQmJw7XQKzDJM3615IKgAshoVUs-u_OoOA2lZPiB-WDybqkRWXRya306fYXotLb_Jaf1qKR6hfnuDeu7VRCropUkaK-IhmIJS1yi8hkzBcVxEqwAH-CrxJhps2dPKko/s1600/Elena_Suhova__Sumerechnyj_ohotnik._Vhod_v_Realnost.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfI7u5lOFEyIYUkQmJw7XQKzDJM3615IKgAshoVUs-u_OoOA2lZPiB-WDybqkRWXRya306fYXotLb_Jaf1qKR6hfnuDeu7VRCropUkaK-IhmIJS1yi8hkzBcVxEqwAH-CrxJhps2dPKko/s640/Elena_Suhova__Sumerechnyj_ohotnik._Vhod_v_Realnost.jpg" width="411" /></a></div>
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Ok this track is not quite new to be honest, but since it wasn't published until now its nothing wrong in posting an older track, imho. "Facing Hybrid Worlds" is an instrumental soundtrack written specially for the book series of E. Suhova called "Twilight Hunter" (published in russian). The Author appeared to be Sariola's fan and told us, that our music somehow created the atmosphere for writing some scenes of the book. She even included our band doing a gig in the first book. Or maybe in others too. I didn't have the time to read 'em all. So she asked us if we could do a soundtrack for that first book and i instantly agreed, because it was kinda inerestring to write a soundtrack for a book, you know. I thought that since it's a fantastic band playing in a phantasy book the music should also be not exactly the same as we perform in reality. For me a soundtrack to anything with "phantasy" on the list, shold sound futuristic and out of this world. So i just used a lot of synth sounds amongst the typical new sariola chain-gun riffing. I even went further and played with Steinbergs incredible tool called "loopmash", that was actually created for electronic music. One might say that such a genre mixture wouldn't sound that homogeneous , but i think it came out very nice and tight. Anyway, you can check for youselves since i'll post it right here!</div>
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Stay tuned!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00882455097519176816noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5511246589459619068.post-88649407548010345592013-01-18T19:57:00.001+01:002013-01-18T19:57:52.082+01:00Gear Review: Lehle P-Split II<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The time has come to publish my very first gear review in this blog! And the first piece of gear i'd like to review is the Lehle P-Split II.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjziBL4mErcyl_sA46ZjiCdQgWYUfdVXUv1-zLKSnHj5AHv-Rl14LmVunU-hlYCyy-2DUOh9QQ_fjSF-JOqdejtzBc_FKHV3Qmh-IkLSloNYNQkApphKMdlS8_a74iDcES4PwvY0TrnCnI/s1600/gearreview1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjziBL4mErcyl_sA46ZjiCdQgWYUfdVXUv1-zLKSnHj5AHv-Rl14LmVunU-hlYCyy-2DUOh9QQ_fjSF-JOqdejtzBc_FKHV3Qmh-IkLSloNYNQkApphKMdlS8_a74iDcES4PwvY0TrnCnI/s400/gearreview1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Since this is the first gear review i write in this blog i'd like to explain my philosophy about the products i describe.<br />
My goal is to provide some in depth information about any particular product with sound/use examples. When i think of any "audio" product, be it software or hardware i ask myself following questions: What is this product for? (obviously), Why do i choose this certain product and not the other item with same functions? what makes this product special? In case of software: is it worth to buy it, if there are free products of same kind, or plugins that are included in the most DAWs? Is the product worth the money? Does the product actually handles it's job? Would i buy this product?<br />
It is of great importance to prove my words with actually testing the product and publishing the results, so people can hear what the product does and not just rely on my opinion.<br />
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O.K.!<br />
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Ladies & Gentlemen, please welcome the:<br />
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<b><span style="color: yellow;"><u> <a href="http://www.musicstore.de/de_DE/EUR/Lehle-P-Split-II-Highend-Splitbox-mit-Trafo/art-GIT0008939-000">Lehle P-Split II</a></u></span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: yellow;"><u><br /></u></span></b>
The p-split is a passive splitter that allows you to split a guitar signal in two. The most common cases of it's use are: routing your guitar signal to two amps or to one amp and a recording system. You may use it for re-amping as well, as it will isolate the output of your recording system from the amp and therefore avoid ground loop. This item features an 1/4" TS input (for a guitar cable) a direct (DIR) and an isolated (ISO) output, as well as a phase reverse, and ground lift switches.<br />
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Good, this seems to be a pretty trivial task and one could ask whether the price (119,00 € in Europe 169,00 € in US) is justified, because one actually can buy a <a href="http://www.thomann.de/gb/behringer_ab_100.htm?sid=cfed486dd1be1055b1c6d470f630006e">Behringer AB100</a> for 19,00 €/25 $ that does the same job? I do not want to discuss the physics behind this gear, i am interested in the tonal quality. Cheap AB boxes/splitters add a lot of background noise and are unsuitable for recording or an advanced concert, while the P-Split is the cheapest device that shouldn't deform the sound and add any noise.<br />
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It should be clear, that you can not expect 1 to 1 signal fidelity when splitting your guitar sound, especially if this device is passive. The big question is however, how strong the difference will be if you use it for recording or a live situation.<br />
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That's what my test last night was all about.<br />
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<b>The TEST</b><br />
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My test setup was kept as simple as possible:<br />
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My japanese Jackson Kelly electric guitar with new Ernie Ball strings connected to the Lehle's input via a quality 3m/10ft guitar cable. From the Lehle both DIR and ISO outputs were connected via short identical patch cables to 2 identic HiZ-preamps set to same volume and recorded in to my <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_audio_workstation">DAW</a> which is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steinberg_Cubase">Cubase</a>. Afterwards i made a reference recording, with the guitar plugged in straightly to the HiZ input of the preamp.<br />
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So I got 3 tracks: DIR track from the Lehle, ISO track from the Lehle and my direct track recorded straightly in to the preamp. It became obvious that the straight direct track was noticeably louder then the both lehle's tracks. The sonic differences of the 3 tracks were rather neglectable. The noise floor of the lehle was very good. It didn't actually add any noise, while the ISO output seemed to sound<br />
even clearer, obviously due to the galvanic isolation of the unit.<br />
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<iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F75471459" width="100%"></iframe>
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<i>track 1: Original test with a clean electric guitar sound. Samples follow in 3-piece groups: 1 note the ISO signal, the second the DIR signal, 3rd - the reference signal.</i><br />
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<iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F75471460" width="100%"></iframe>
<i>track 2: Same track with Guitar Rig 5 high gain plugin on it. </i><br />
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I then analyzed the wave-forms from the DAW and, as expected the DIR signal looks more similar to there reference, while the ISO signal tends to contain a bit less information. The transients (the first and the loudest peak of an audio signal) of the ISO output were significantly lower then those of the DIR and reference tracks.<br />
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<i>pic.1: The visual appearance of the 3 waveform. The reference track has noticeably larger amplitude, the DIR track looks more like the reference but just like the ISO-track seems to have a bit different dynamic range. The ISO-track's transient and harmonics seem to have a little smaller amplitude. If however set to the equal levels the differences will become even less significant. No artifacts or extreme differences between tracks could not be seen or heard during the test and in the aftermath.</i><br />
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<b>Results</b><br />
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An accurate audition via both studio monitors and headphones did not reveal a huge tonal difference. The difference, as you will be able to hear is there. The signal gets changed a bit. However I couldn't state that the splitted signal lacked anything or sounded worse then the reference. It is just slightly different. If you count that your guitar signal will be processed while re-amping or a plugin emulation and most likely will be compressed to a certain degree the sonic divergence will become even smaller. I just threw a Guitar RIG 5 distortion preset over the combined track and you can judge the results for your self.<br />
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The ground lift and the phase reverse switch can come in handy and it's definitely a wise complement to the P-Split II.<br />
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Short comment to the audio tracks: I placed the recorded signals close to each other, so one can instantly hear the sound changing , rather then listening to it after a longer pause or passage. ISO signal goes first, then the DIR track and then the reference.<br />
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<b>Conclusion</b><br />
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All in all the lehle P-Split delivered a great job. Nor did it add any noise to the guitar signal, neither did it damage the original sound of it. Although the DIR and ISO outputs of the lehle were noticeably quieter then the reference track, following things are to conclude:<br />
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1. The reference track and the lehle test tracks are not the same but 2 separately recorded tracks, so a certain volume variation of the 2 takes should be taken into account.<br />
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2. The lower signal ouput of the lehle can be easily compensated within a DAW by trimming it's gain, or in a guitar amplifier by boosting the input volume/gain a bit. And you shouldn't be afraid of additional noise.<br />
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3. If you'd like the signal to remain as authentic as possible, I'd suggest you connect the ISO output to the amp you're playing and the DIR to your recording device. However I must repeat that the difference between the two is really neglectible.<br />
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Now, I'd like to answer the questions I have asked myself before the test:<br />
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<i>Q. Who needs this product?</i><br />
<i>A</i>. The lehle P-Split II comes in very handy in situations when you want to play through 2 different paths, be it an amp and a recording console, or two amps. It is also suitable for re-amping. The only thing you'll have to adjust with re-amping is the output volume. The P-Split will cancel the ground loop and you will not get any 50 KHz noisebands.<br />
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<i>Q. Why this and not a similar product? </i><br />
<i>A. </i>Although there are plenty AB-boxes out there that only cost a fraction of the P-Split the galvanic isolation makes this product stand out. It is the cheapest splitter of pro quality that i was able to find.<br />
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<i>Q. Is the product worth the money?</i><br />
<i>A. </i>Yes, it surely is. The item is built like a tank. It has only few functions: splitting and isolating, but it handles them at pro level. The most splitters of same quality will cost much more. B-sides nobody told you can't by it used.<br />
<br />
<i>Q. Would i buy it?</i><br />
<i>A. </i>Well, I actually did buy it for the Sariola's single recording sessions and i'm keeping it.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Afterword</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Alright! The first gear review is done! It couldn't and shouldn't be rated as a scientific article, but in my opinion it is a pretty detailed review. If you however have any questions that you'd like to get answered regarding to the unit, feel free to leave comments and i'll gladly update the review! Thank's for reading!<br />
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00882455097519176816noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5511246589459619068.post-6043370888854497932013-01-05T02:05:00.004+01:002013-01-05T02:05:53.059+01:00NEWZ UPDATE<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
What's up folks?<br />
<br />
Some news from my audio-nest here :P<br />
<br />
<br />
<i>Bad news:</i> Sariola's show in Cologne on 31 january was cancelled due to booking problems. <br />
<br />
<i>Good news: </i>Worked on two new titles today. The first one is a cover on an ukrainian folksong. The style is some kind of folk/death metal. The carcass of the song is done already. Will need to record vocals and work on the keyboards a bit. The second track will be a new Sariola song, It kind of concludes to our new title "Hexshadowed" but is more experimental with use of some unorthodox synthies and bit more extreme :).<br />
<br />
Currently i'm also working on a new article for homerecording beginners. Ok, i know there are lots of these on the web already, but this will get more specific on setups that i've known and used and with different budget-categories, so you'll know how much cash do you really need to spend to conceive your own homerecording studio with as few compromisses as possibe!<br />
<br />
I'm going to order some studio lights, so i can actually begin to shoot some vids.<br />
<br />
Cubase tutorials are also planned. And one is almost done. It's about proper Cubase project management. Just need time to get it all done, you know ;)<br />
<br />
I'd like some feedback from you guys, for i see that there are currently over 100 clicks each day, basically from Germany, US and Russia. if you'd like to see or read a tutorial on some special topic or a gear/software review, just feel free to leave comment or to mail me on padlo.records {at] gmail dot com.<br />
<br />
Have a nice weekend!<br />
<br />
Eugene</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00882455097519176816noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5511246589459619068.post-71977719391392022792012-12-30T15:48:00.003+01:002013-01-03T02:36:09.264+01:00Lehle P-Split ll, Radial Reamp PRO-RMP first impressions<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Konnichiwa! Hope all of you had a good christmass and got some niiiiiice presents! As for me, i've got myself some toys for guitar :)<br />
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<br />
Sariola recording sessions are nearer and nearer and since the 2 songs will be mixed by a famous mixing engineer my goal is to deliver the best quality of recording material possible. I was also always curious about re-amping and signal splitting. Read a lot about it and could not really make a picture about all this stuff, so i decided to check it for myself and share the results with you guys!<br />
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<a name='more'></a><br /><br />
I'd like to include a short introduction for those of you who do not know what re-amping and splitting is. Advanced guys may just skip to part 2.<br />
<br />
<br />
<i>PART I. What is re-amping and what do you need a splitter for?</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
Imagine that you record an electric guitar with your amp and a microphone or a DI-box. The track that you recorded, especially if it's distorted guitar sound will more or less retain it's original sound. Even when you process it with a compressor or eq it will still have the sound character or color it had while you recorded it. And than imagine that when you're done with the recording and start to mix and add some other instruments and you suddenly discover that this guitar sound is not suitable for your track? The only way to correct this is to record the guitars again, which is pain in da arse. In order to prevent this process repeating you can rather record the dry signal of your electric guitar right in to the box (be it your audio interface or a multi-track recorder, or whatever) and then send it back to the amp and tweak the setting and microphone positions or even change the amp, the cabinet, the microphone until you get your desired sound and. People say however that you can't just re-amp from your interface output due to impedance differences and also noise-floor problems. A so called "re-amping box" is a device that let's you bring your dry recorded guitar signal back to the amp without or with little signal authenticity-loss.<br />
Of course if you are playing some heavy music it will be very uncomfortable to record just the clean (dry) signal of your guitar. For many people (including me) all the virtual guitar processing systems like NI Guitar Rig, IK Multimedia Amplitube, Peavy Revalver or the others are not that great in the subject of the playing feeling, so you would most likely have to route your guitar signal to 2 ways: You recording device and your amp. To achieve this you need a device that will split your guitar signal in two. This devices are called splitters. A cheaper splitter will bring a lot of noise and coloration to your signal, the bit more expensive one's will do this to a lesser degree. Here's a diagram to explain the process:<br />
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<br />
<i>PART II. First impressions & some re-amp myth-busting.</i><br />
<br />
This one is not quite for beginners, but rather for advanced users and those who read about re-amping and got even more puzzled. Some say that you shouldn't do re-amping without a re-amp box, for you will smoke your amp. The others say that the output signal of your sound card is too high for the input of the amp. There are also people who are trying to explain it with some impedance mismatching or balanced and unbalanced signal blah blah blah. A decent re-amping box will cost you about 100-200 $/€ so it's not the world. But the big question is: Do you have to spend that extra money?!<br />
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<br />
<u>The popular "solutions" are:</u><br />
<br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Use you passive DI-box backwards.</li>
<li>Adjust the output level of your interface to the output level of your guitar.</li>
<li>Plug the output of your audio-interface in an effect pedal because of balanced/unbalanced signal.</li>
<li>Use a noise-gate to avoid hum/noise that will most likely be there since you connect amp and audio-interface (ground loop).</li>
</ul>
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<br /></div>
<div>
<u>Tested setups:</u></div>
<br />
<br />
In order to achieve at least a rough impression of different re-amping ways i tried out following setups. Each of these steps were instantly compared to the same guitar that was recorder plugged into the amp/distortion pedal directly.<br />
<br />
<i>1. The classic way.</i><br />
Dry guitar track through Saffire Pro 40's output => Radial REAMP PRO-RMP (passive re-amping box) => Blackstar HT-DISTX (valve distortion pedal) => Input of the Marshall Valvestate amp.<br />
<br />
<i> Comparison to live guitar: </i>I was to lazy to throw a mic in front of the amp's speaker so i just listened to the sound of the amp from different positions. The sound was of course different due to different reasons like the coloration of the dry track-recording (interface's preamp, interface's output, ad/da). Subjectively, the sound that came out of the amp had a bit less low-end and a bit less high-end, however these frequencies would be to 90% attenuated in the mix, so it's not a big deal. The good thing is, there was not more noise than when actually playing the guitar. So the REAMP PRO-RMP seems to handle it's job very well. I must mention that i ran my amp at moderate level and it could just come out, that i might get a less perfect signal to noise ratio when i'll do a full-scale recording with an ENGL Savage 120 alltube higain-demon with a 412 Celestion V30 cab at proper level, to let the power tubes kick ass. <br />
<br />
<i>2. The unorthodox, blasphemous no-reamping box way.</i><br />
Dry guitar track through Saffire Pro 40's output => Blackstar HT-DISTX => Marshall Valvestate.<br />
<br />
<i> Comparison to live guitar: </i>The very first thing to strike my ears was the noise that emerged as soon as i connected my patchbay's output to the distortion pedal. The noise was there all the time. At a more then you would like to have not only while recording, but while listening already. It would become less noticeable during wall-like riffing, but get's through in each even smallest pause. The ground loop exists ;) end of story. Considering the amount of time and effort that must be put in to cleaning of the re-amped tracks made this way i'd 10000000 % go and buy a re-amp box or...<br />
<br />
<i>...3. No re-amping box, but a splitter instead. </i><br />
Dry guitar track through Saffire Pro 40's output => Lehle P-Split II' iso output => Blackstar HT-DISTX => Marshall Valvestate.<br />
<br />
What i was thinking here: Since the Lehle P-Split provides galvanic separation, so it will be possible to avoid the ground loop.<br />
<br />
<i> Comparison to live guitar: </i>This is waaaaaaaaaay better then without the Lehle. The sound was still different from the live guitar and different from the Radial's Reamp as well, but it wasn't better or worse. Very usable in my opinion. Can't wait to compare both of these devices in a full scale test.<br />
<br />
<i>4. Using you di-box backwards. </i><br />
Dry guitar track through Saffire Pro 40's output => output of the Hughes & Kettner Red Box Pro and from it's input to => Blackstar HT-DISTX => Marshall Valvestate.<br />
<br />
Here i encountered a major problem. The output of the Red Box, or the output of any other DI even when used as an input still has an male XLR slot. So you will need a female to female xlr cable or a guitar jack to female xlr (like the drum trigger cables). Unfortunately my trigger cables where all in my recording studio and not in my mixing room, so this setup i'll have to run again at the full scale test.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Conclusion.</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Although i can not call this review an scientific article due to lack of sound samples and pretty sloppy test execution as such, there are statements to be made:<br />
<br />
1. You have to deal with ground loops, so when using an interface plugged directly to amp/fx pedal you need some good separation, otherwise a large amount of noise is imminent.<br />
<br />
2. Not using a re-amping box will NOT destroy your amplifier, which, as i can recall, was earlier the major argument for buying a re-amping box. It will however, most likely destroy your time and probably the recording as well.<br />
<br />
3. A good guitar splitter can act like a re-amping device in a certain way. You should, however, bear in mind that a quality splitter would cost even more than a re-amping box. On the other hand you get quasi 2 devices in one. This statement is to a certain degree (until proven otherwise) applicable to the Lehle P-Split II.<br />
<br />
The full-scale test with audio and maybe even video, as well as single product reviews will follow as soon as possible.<br />
<br />
Thanks for reading<br />
<br />
Stay tuned!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00882455097519176816noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5511246589459619068.post-6829794416117036982012-12-23T18:07:00.001+01:002012-12-23T18:07:08.887+01:00Eugene Getman's audio production diaries: Guitar tips for fat tone and less pain in the ass!...<a href="http://eugene-getman.blogspot.com/2012/12/guitar-tips-for-fat-tone-and-less-pain.html?spref=bl">Eugene Getman's audio production diaries: Guitar tips for fat tone and less pain in the ass!...</a>: So i was doing that gig last friday and almost everything went well with exception of one of my guitars running low on battery and sudden d...Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00882455097519176816noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5511246589459619068.post-37139111861151534512012-12-23T18:05:00.003+01:002013-05-20T16:43:27.108+02:00Guitar tips for fat tone and less pain in the ass!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
So, i was doing that gig last friday and almost everything went well with exception of one of my guitars running low on battery and sudden detuning on the other one. I had a total of 4 guitars (different tunings) at Sariola's gig and i decided to put all those things on one tip list for myself and for all you guitar-maniacs worldwide! Let's get started!<br />
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read on...<br />
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<i><u>1. NEW STRINGS.</u></i><br />
<i><br /></i>
Yes, you do need new strings. Not just in a live situation. Even more important are new strings when you record. Just remember it. old strings = bad. You will never get a <b>FAT</b> tone out of your guitar with old strings. Old strings will sound dull, old strings will have less attack. Old strings will suck. And even worse: old strings could tear while you're playing your main hit-song live. Get new strings on. End of story.<br />
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<br />
<i><u>2. USE QUALITY CABLES.</u></i><br />
<br />
Like everywhere else: a chain is so strong as it's weakest link! And as a guitar player you have countless links in that goddamn chain: Your hands, plectrum, strings, pickups, effects, amp (which has multiple links inside), speaker cabinet, microphone. And of course CABLES. Just imagine you've got a custom ESP guitar, an DIEZEL Hagen and a TC-Electronic G-System with total worth of over 7.000 $/€. And the you have your cheap-ass ebay cables for 2 $ pro meter. You'll get mud, you'll get noise and you will ruin your very sound. So just spare a 100 $ and buy some proper cables, ok?<br />
<br />
<br />
<i><u>3. Preamp gain vs Poweramp gain.</u></i><br />
<br />
Now this is a mistake that a lot of younger guitar players are making: they crank the hell out of their preamp's HiGain while keeping the master gain hideously low for reasons known: neighbours, eh? A good amp need VOLUME, baby. If you just crank your preamp's gain knob, all you'll get is dirty, ugly, skinny, noisy peace'o'crap sound. And it is something you don't want to achieve unless you're playing in Darkthrone. All that <b>fat,</b> all that beef and punch comes from the power tubes, that are in the POWERAMP section. You will notice that when those are driven high enough you do not need such amount of distortion in the preamp section anymore! Bear this in mind if you want to ever achieve good sounding metal/rock guitar, equally for live and recording situation.<br />
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<br />
<i><u>4. Killing the midrange.</u></i><br />
<br />
Ok this one's classic as well. You boost your bass, you boost your trebble and you kill all effing mids, eh? In conjunction with ultra-armageddon-distortion. And it sounds so great while you're practicing at home or playing alone in your rehearsal room? But then, when the other guys come, or you're playing live, or trying to record and all you get ist some hirange hiss and noise? And all your ingenious riffs can not be even heard, while your drummer beats the hell out of his drumkit and the bass player grinding his five-string? Yeah, that's because you killed your mids, baby. If you'll watch an instrument frequency distribution chart, you'll find out, that the range of a guitar is about 80 Hz to aprox. 2 KHz. Got the idea? While bass guitar and kick drum will occupate everyhting from 40 to 100-120 Hz The vocals, keyboards, cymbals etc. will take all the highs. The other frequencies of your guitar you muted already. So always leave enough mid-range tones while playing. Different amp's equalizers would behave differently, but all in all, mid range must be there!<br />
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<br />
<i><u>5. Keeping your setup simple.</u></i><br />
<br />
Now all the guitar geeks out there will advise me to f**k myself, but i will state it: keep your rig as simple as possible. For the reasons are plenty: The more elements you use (pedals, rack gear, wireless units, multiple amps and blah blah) the more noise and potential mistake sources you get. I would advise to use only the gear you absolutely need for the character of your own sound. All devices that do some subtle tone change will most likely do bad service to you. This is of course for a live situation. Just think of it: how much gear you'll have to transport, install, connect, fine tune and so on. Earlier i had a guitar effects chain as follows: Boss Noise Supressor, Boss Compression/Sustainer, Boss Turbo distortion, Boss, Metalzone, Boss Graphic equalizer, Ibanez wahwah pedal and a boss-gt multifx processor for modulations and revebr/delays. So many cables, tons of gear, hours waisted for connecting and unpacking and blah blah. Then i just switched to an H&K Matrix 100, and Switchblade afterwards only. For it had all the needed FX built in (besides wah). And guess what? My sound improved a lot. Nowadays I'm using just the Engl Savage Head with a tc electronic g-sharp, or g-major, or even a behringer virtualizer and in some rear cases the Ibanez demon wah. That's it. If you'd been there this friday you would be blown away buy the <b>fat </b>sound my setup delivered. Only use what you need. It will save your time, money and the nerve!<br />
<br />
<br />
<i><u>6. Use a noise supressor.</u></i><br />
<br />
Any explanation needed? Buy one, you'll never regret. Trust me.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<i><u>7. Volume Pedal</u></i><br />
<br />
Ok, the title could be actually, use a boost pedal, use different channels of your amp, use separate master sections of your amp or similar. The point is: there are a lot guys doing solos or just leading riffs, that can not be heard at all. They just get lost under the riffs and the drums. You want to get the lead sound louder than anything else. It wouldn't be called LEAD sound in a different case, wouldn't it? You can use a normal Volume pedal, after your FX signal chain, or between the pre- and power-amp section. Or you might use and boost pedal somewhere in your chain or you just can switch to another channel on your amp that is tuned louder and more for lead sounds. Or if you want to do it like i do =) You'll change the master/presence section on your Savage and don't spend extra cash and time for an external device (see part 5.)<br />
<br />
<br />
<i><u>8. FX & FX-Loop</u></i><br />
<br />
Nobody can forbid you to overcrap your sound with tons of endless delays and canyon-like reverbs. It's all art and it's all up to you. But if you wan't your sound to be comprehensive and professional use your fx sparingly. I'd suggest you connect your main modulation and reverb/delay fx between pre- and poweramp section of your amp (fx-loop). Get The dry/wet fx knob on your ampt to 100% wet and then adjust dry/wet ratio on your effects. Otherwise, it can become hard to control the signal, since dry/wet knobs are mostly at the back of the amp, b-sides with some fx, like tremolo, for instance, you would want to have the fx on 100% wer. Sometimes all you need is that the effect is even not really heard. But when you turn it off, you'd miss it. Sometimes you need more of an aggressive approach in order to underline the dramatic effect of a musical passage. However, excessive use of fx would most likely make your guitar sound washed, blury and most likely like a piece'o'crap. If still using all the stompboxes pay attention to the connecting order of your pedals. For example i wouldn't advise you to connect a reverb before distortion, or Wah Wah before a compressor. On the other hand it could just lead you to some interesting result. Who knows?<br />
<br />
<br />
<i><u>9. Change those batteries!</u></i><br />
<i><br /></i>
And change them best right before your gig starts. Hell! Last friday i forgot to turn down the volume knob of my emg-81 stuffed explorer and i played one of our main songs with and effing clean sound. Goddamn! Such a great song, spoiled by a stupid 9V battery! Just change 'em. Don't forget this! I mean it!!!!!<br />
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<br />
<i><u>10: Replacing strings.</u></i><br />
<br />
Last but not least, replace your old strings with new ones with sufficient time left for the new strings to stretch and have stable tuning. Especially if you're using floyd rose. Let them sit over night and tune them again. Or if it's just a few hours before the gig, play for as long as you'll need so the tuning is stable. The last thing you want is that your' strings run out of tuning while you're plaing live or record.<br />
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<br />
<br />
<br />
I hope this tips, although they are all old as the guitar playing itself, will help you to maintain the good old <b>FAT</b> guitar sound and save your nerves ;)<br />
<br />
<br />
Stay Tuned,<br />
<br />
<br />
Eugene<br />
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00882455097519176816noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5511246589459619068.post-34747251049908120152012-12-16T21:15:00.001+01:002012-12-16T21:15:27.018+01:00NEWZ UPDATE<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Hey! It's been a while since the last post again. But here are some news:<div>
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<div>
Just 4 days until Sariola's show @ <a href="http://www.cageclub.de/">the Cage Club</a>, with <a href="http://www.myspace.com/mentalwarband">Mental War</a> & <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/GRIMPACT/191126537634419">Grimpact</a>. We do a lot of rehearsing in order to blow your brains away on friday 21th! And don't forget: FREE ENTRY, aaaaaand the actual news is: We are going to play 2 songs, that never had been performed before and one song, that nobody even heard! That's right, it's a new title, called "Hexshadowed". I just can't wait to nail it on stage...<br /><div>
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But that's not nearly all, baby! The <a href="http://www.myspace.com/vredesbyrd13">Vredesbyrd</a> recording takes a bit longer then i wanted, cause i had to go to Hamburg for a week (IT thing), But the bass recordings are done, so it's just guitars and vox left. Think I'll nail 'em this week. </div>
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Sariola vocal recording sessions are coming up next. Since <a href="http://www.facebook.com/irynovna">Loreley von Rhein</a> uses the <a href="http://www.tc-helicon.com/products/voicelive-2/">TC Helicon Voicelive 2</a>, we have been tweaking on it a lot lately not only to use the all custom made presets on the records, but to use them live as well. I must admit, that this peace of gear is ultra versatile, has endless effect combinations and supreme sound quality! So prepair yourself for the release of the "Loreley von Rhein Voicelive 2 Custom Preset Pack". 3 presets are already there. More to come!</div>
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Advanced cubase video tutorials, gear & software reviews and some preset packs to follow as well!</div>
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Feel free to write your suggestions about gear or software you would like to know more about in comments.</div>
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Stay tuned!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00882455097519176816noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5511246589459619068.post-49683638576495621552012-11-20T15:40:00.004+01:002012-11-20T15:40:43.097+01:00Live dates for Sariola correction!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Hey, In the original post the first live date was wrong so now the correct dates once more:<br />
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Sariola Live:<br />
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<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">December 21th in Cage Club (Bottrop, Germany) with Mental War and Grimpact and on </span></li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">January 31th at MTC in Cologne, Germany with Erlkönig</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 18px;">Some news from da studio as well. Drum session for Vredesbyrd are done, now</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 18px;"> bass and guitars coming up next! Please stand by.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00882455097519176816noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5511246589459619068.post-78976708495408661462012-11-15T15:34:00.001+01:002012-11-15T15:34:13.349+01:00Eugene Getman's multimedia&info source: Vredesbyrd recording sessions launched.<a href="http://eugene-getman.blogspot.com/2012/11/vredesbyrd-recording-sessions-launched.html?spref=bl">Eugene Getman's multimedia&info source: Vredesbyrd recording sessions launched.</a>: As already posted earlier, i decided to re-visit the once abandoned solo black metal project named "Vredesbyrd". Back in 2006 there...Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00882455097519176816noreply@blogger.com0