With the advent of home-based digital recording, the search for a decent, versatile tube direct box with gain control felt like the search for the Holy Grail. The ADL 100-G (approx. $599.00 retail), is not a new piece of gear and has been available for a while. If I had only known it might well have found its way into my studio much earlier. I was primarily looking for a box for my home studio that would also function as a live DI box before interfacing with other gear. The fact that I play five different instruments with five different pickups was just part of the challenge.

Famed for the ADL “cool blue light” power-supply lamp, this hand-built unit allows you to hit the tube stage or bypass it completely. It has an amp standard TS ¼”out and a Mic XLR out. The gain stage affects both the line ¼” out and the XLR out, really allowing you to “burn to tape”. Running acoustic guitar with a Fishman Rare Earth combo magnetic/mic pickup, banjo with a Pick-Up-the-World contact filament pickup, mandolin with McIntyre passive, a 12-string with a traditional piezo and Washburn acoustic bass through it provided a nice, characteristically warm, clean tube response. The bass had noticeably more punch than I expected, as well as sounding warm without too much coloration and also needed less post EQ than normal in a track. The gain knob also came in handy when plugging in my Telecaster. Just terrific and totally appropriate for clean direct sounds or powering a cab.

The real treat that I uncovered was when I plugged in my Porch Board. It is a bass/kick drum-like device with a ¼” output that emits a pulse AND a tone at around 100khz. It really beefs up the bottom end on some tracks and can be used as a kick sound, etc. The 100-G actually sounded as good or better than when I’ve run the Porchboard through a Neve or an Avalon U-5. It had a richness I hadn’t previously heard. Very nice surprise.

All in all a terrific deal in a real, accurate, genuine tube DI. The gain option really puts it over the top.

Both boxes are very consistent overall and it’s a tough choice…..what it may come down to is which covers the most bases for your specific needs. I would say weigh your options carefully but you couldn’t go wrong with either of these two units which both have gain control and come in under the $600 retail price barrier for great, versatile pro tube directs.

With the advent of home-based digital recording, the search for a decent, versatile tube direct box with gain control felt like the search for the Holy Grail. Both Summit Audio and Anthony DeMaria Labs have evidently heard our pleas. I was looking for a box for my home studio that would also function as a live DI box before interfacing with other gear. The fact that I play five different instruments with five different pickups was just part of the challenge.

The Summit TD-100 (approx. $425.00 retail) is a neat, flat little ½ rack unit perfect at home or in a live rig such as my SKB pedalboard (compressor, eq, and chorus/flange), with plenty of room left over for other gear (compressor, eq, and chorus/flange). It has a ¼” input on its face with a ¼” amp out as well. There’s a Line ¼” and XLR out as well as a headphone out. The amp out doesn’t hit the tube stage, much like a standard DI. The TD-100 sports a nifty little impedance knob ranging from 10 k to 2 m, with 1 m being 12 o’clock. This is a cool option as you can basically tailor your sound to taste by matching the specific impedance load of individual pickups resulting in a truer signal. With bass I found I liked the knob somewhere between 10k and 1m, but closer to 2m gave a more fretless vibe which was no less effective. Though my acoustic instruments sounded richer at about10 o’clock I found they were represented more accurately at around 3 to 4 o’clock. The gain is set to 6 db intervals and I found that the unit held up well even when pushed hard but sounded best at unity (12 o’clock). It performed well and was consistent with all of my various pickups/instruments (Octave Mandolin, Banjo, Bass, Acoustic Guitars and Electric Guitar) with the exception of the Octave Mando which has a passive McIntryre pickup. I had to turn the gain down 2 clicks (12 db) to compensate. The overall sound was warm and solid.

The ADL G-100 (approx. $ 599.00 retail), as opposed to the brand-new Summit box, has been available for a while. If I had only known it might well have found its way into my studio much earlier. Famed for the ADL “cool blue light” power-supply lamp, this hand-built unit allows you to hit the tube stage or bypass it completely. Slightly longer and higher than the Summit box but about the same size, the ADL has an amp out and a Mic XLR out. The gain stage affects both the line ¼” out and the XLR out. Running all of the previously mentioned instruments through it provided a nice, characteristically warm, clean tube response. The bass had noticeably more punch than the Summit box, as well as being a little bit cleaner. I would say that though either unit works very well on bass, the ADL unit needed less post EQ in a track. The ADL box withstood the gain knob a little better too. It’s signal remained more defined as I hit it harder where the Summit got a little softer in it’s distortion. Everything sounded best on the Summit box at unity or less. Both boxes sounded equally good with my Telecaster right out to a cabinet or direct. The ADL again was a little cleaner and would be my choice for electric guitar before interfacing to a cabinet.

The only real significant difference between these two boxes that I uncovered was when I plugged in my Porch Board. It is a bass/kick drum-like device with a ¼” output that emits a pulse AND a tone at around 100khz. It really beefs up the bottom end on some tracks and can be used as a kick sound, etc. With the Summit the sound was softer and much less defined than I was used to, though still useful as a kick sound. The ADL however actually sounded as good or better than when I’ve run the Porchboard through a Neve or an Avalon U-5. It had a richness I hadn’t previously heard. Very nice surprise.

Loopers have been asking for years for a product that not only repeats phrases or loops that they create but a unit that SAVES and STORES the information for later use. The folks at Electrix have heard their pleas. Not only does the Repeater loop and sample at CD-quality, 16-bit, 44.1 khz resolution but offers 4 separate channels of sampling with up to 99 loops per channel but also four tracks per loop. That’s a lot of flexibility and a lot of storage. Other key features are beat detection mode which can detect and sync to any incoming signal, external effect loop capability and idiot-proof ease of use. You press record and it records. You press any other button and it stops and starts automatically looping. Editing is a breeze allowing you to easily trim starts and finishes. I purchased my Repeater as a live sampler/sequencer to play certain small snippets of music, loops or samples via just about any numeric midi pedal (Digitech Control 8, Rolls Midi Buddy, etc.). Recording is also operable via standard footswitch. Sequencing via the midi pedal is effective but tenuous if you decide to get more elaborate than merely triggering basic, pre-recorded samples via individual pads and banks. You can record and sequence easily via midi pedal or controller but I have heard of problems when attempting anything more complicated. From what I gather from internet newsgroups and Electrix this will be ironed out better in future software upgrades which are available free at www.electrixpro.com The version I purchased and tested is OS version 1.1 Extra storage space is available via smart cards. Stereo phono input, ¼” unbalanced input and output as well as digital S/PDIF output and headphone jack. Effect loop outputs are unbalanced. Current retail approx. $500.00

Here’s a great little item that can be useful in immeasurable ways: The Lehle 3@1 switcher pedal. Basically it takes a ¼” TS, unbalanced signal and switches or splits it to three other outputs without losing any signal quality. It might as well be a direct, uninterrupted path as far as my ears can tell. I use it in my live rig to split my signal after my pre-amp to send one line to an amp, one to my RNC then to the board and the third channel, “C” back into a fourth output “C/B” which allows me to connect all my pedals to channel “C” which then feeds only channel “B” or my amp signal without degrading my signal path or affecting the direct signal sent to the board via channel “A”. Pretty cool huh ? Anyway, I’m sure you can find many other uses. Also, this pedal is made like a tank. Solid steel and built to last. I got mine from Willie’s American Guitar in Minneapolis for $225., which is list. Lehle makes a bunch of other great pedals like this such as the 3@1 (3 BALANCED/TRS to one TRS) and the Dual which splits one TS signal to 2 separate channels with adjustable trim pots on each channel. www.europeanmusical.com

From the moment you receive your Little Labs Multi-Z DI, you’ll realize it’s obvious designer Jonathan Little has spent his share of time in recording studios. This little unit is easily the most versatile and thoughtful hi-fi box I have ever tried. Housed in a spiffy, hard-shell “mic” carrying case, it sits comfortably surrounded by lush padding. A transformerless device powered by its own proprietary power supply (included), it thoughtfully separates it’s in-line, heavy duty desktop unit by a few feet of cable. The appeal of transformerless operation is an ulta-low distortion spec and no “color”, without sounding boring, added to your signal. Special mention should also be made of the manual. It is clear, concise, and very helpful, full of ideas and easy to understand.

Impedance is the first and usually single most important factor in tone. The Multi-Z addresses the impedance issue by offering Hi-Z, Mid-Z and Low-Z options. Though most of the instruments I tested responded well to the Hi-Z setting, the Mid and Low-Z settings can be helpful when using an instrument with an onboard or powered pre-amp or a keyboard. This is also the first unit I have tested that took the time to design with keyboards in mind and provide info for keyboardists in the manual regarding use.

The Multi-Z offers two choices for ¼” input, front and back. The XLR-out is affected by the gain (pad) stage of the amp. There is also a Low-Z buffered output which would work for running to an amp or an unbalanced ¼” output. The 21-step pad/gain option allows you to “burn to tape” the exact level you wish without an additional pre-amp. This unit even has a speaker input selection for capturing an amps speaker output and harmonic overtones, thus capturing settings, feedback and sustain to a separate track during a performance. I also took the manual’s suggestion and plugged into the Multi-Z first before interfacing to my POD and ART amp simulators. In both cases doing this truly did improve the overall sound.

With the Multi-Z my P-Bass was full and punchy and my Washburn acoustic/electric was genuinely warm. In a track I used absolutely no EQ on the P-Bass and a touch of fundamental at around 85khz on the Washburn and yet those tracks cut through fine and had measurable presence. I was really impressed with how the Multi-Z handled a variety of acoustic instruments and pickups. My banjo, which employs a Pick-Up-the-World, adhesive, mic-like contact pickup, sounded like it was amplified by an external microphone. Equally, 12-string acoustic, octave mandolin and especially my acoustic six-string guitar with a Fishman Rare Earth magnetic soundhole pickup/mic combo, sounded stellar though each employs a different pickup system. The response was crisp, not brittle and far superior to many tube directs I have tested.

This box is an audiophile’s dream. Only first-rate, top-notch parts are used in the construction and the science and application are solid. If you really think you can hear the difference, then this is your unit. Listed at $550. but retailing for around $450.00 it’s also a great deal which you will never regret.

Certainly one of the coolest and most inexpensive devices I’ve stumbled onto over the last couple of years has to be Pick-Up-the-World pickups. Technically a contact microphone previously designed for medical and military purposes, it comprises a thin piece of film as a contact element that is so thin it actually is capable of picking up transients. It runs typically to a standard ¼” TS jack from a thin cable and is totally flat from 2hrz on up. I first tried one on a banjo which are a challenge at any level to amplify or even mic properly. Instead of chasing people out of the room from the mere sight of the thing, I haven’t played a single gig yet where someone doesn’t ask me how the hell I get the banjo to sound so good. Because sound travels laterally very efficiently and conveniently, the flexible film element works ideally for clean, accurate reproduction, especially in hard to mic environments. I haven’t ever heard anything this real in eight years of testing every damn piezo/transducer/soundhole type product in the marketplace. I’ve now had one installed on my octave mandolin and archtop guitar as well. I could see micing a whole drum kit with these things in place of close mics and simply using overheads and rooms for the rest of the spectrum. They’re that good. Latex caulk or 1mm thick, 3M double-sided tape is recommended for installation, though I used silicone and a small piece of tape to hold it in place until it dried. They run anywhere from $90.-120.00 retail or at www.pick-up-the-world.com You can reach designer/owner Dave Emke at pickups@mindspring.com

People always seem to be interested in finding “tricks” of the recording trade so here is one of mine: The Porchboard Bass is a solid, finely-crafted piece of wood employing a pressure sensor from a motor vehicle air bag which creates not only a kick drum-like sound but also a bass tone at around 100hrz. A footrest/bar is struck much like a pedal from a kick drum which triggers the sensor to a standard TS ¼” output. What’s unique about the Porchboard is that in a mix or live performance it can lend the impression that a bass guitar is present and “moving” with the chords or changes of the song. I frequently use it to reinforce kick drum tracks to get a deeper, fuller sound and presence out of the bottom in mixes. It definitely enhances bass tracks and makes them more defined. Live it can replace a kick drum AND lend more depth and bottom to your arrangements and overall sound. (I hear that Willie Nelson’s drummer actually used it on tour occasionally to replace his kick). Typically, I run the output of my Porchboard to a basic gate (in my case a DBX 363X I got used for $35. bucks) to eliminate “pops” from recoils when the board is struck too hard to any direct box, straight into a session. Add compression to taste. With creative use of EQ and re-amping, many other interesting and useful variations can be created from a seemingly basic percussion track. I am constantly finding new and unusual applications for this funky unit. Of course like anything else, you can easily over-use it too . Two models are available, mahogany ($450.) and pine ($250.) at Elderly Music (www.elderly.com) and www.porchboard.com and other retail outlets.

After recently installing a ¼” patchbay in my home studio, I began searching for a dual-channel compressor to replace my, alas, unbalanced, trusty RNC’s (I know there’s a way around this-that’s another column). Since I was mainly using the compressor as a soft limiter for digital recording I wanted something fairly transparent yet cost-effective. I knew going in that matching the RNC would be tough both at performance and price considerations. I’m therefore pleased to report that the ACP-22 is an impressive little unit.

The controls are in fact very similar to the aforementioned RNC - Threshold, Ratio, Attack, Release and Output. I immediately put it to use in a Pro Tools session as a soft limiter. It performed almost exactly as my RNC’s had (A recurring theme…). Patching from a UA 2-610 pre I noticed very little change in the signal when A/B’ing with the ACP-22 in bypass mode. Good sign. Setting it at 2:1 on an acoustic guitar I noticed little difference if any from what I was used to hearing. Upon further testing with vocals, I found lowering the ratio to 1.5:1 more closely matched (to my ears) the levels I had been used to previously with the same mic, pre, and RNC. Maybe it’s just me. I will say it wasn’t quite as transparent as the RNC but the difference was negligible. On a snare with a good, large diaphram condenser the ACP allowed me the flexibility to custom contour a nice, light compression at a reasonable ratio (5:1). However, with the same setup I usually need between 4:1 and 5:1 with my RNC to get the same level. Also, the ACP was slightly softer to my ears than the RNC.

Special note should be given to the Pre Sonus presets. They are conservative and quite good for beginners who may not be that savvy yet with compression. The option is also available to choose hard knee such as for percussion or soft knee for say, vocals. Both of these controls were very effective and I noticed a clear difference between the two in use. Both channels of compression can be linked or used separate from each other. The input button can automatically compensate to match the original input gain after processing.

I was really impressed with the gates on the ACP. Both channels have their own gate. This can be a very cool option to have. I used it immediately in trying to separate a snare hit from a cymbal bleeding on the track so I could record to a new track for a mix. It was very surprising how precise it was. Very unusual at this price point. I virtually eliminated the cymbal, for my purposes anyway, and the new sample provided exactly the punch to the track I needed for my mix. The range button automatically cuts anything below 60db, which usually leaves percussion, and there’s a low-pass filter on both gates which is quite effective in insuring a tight gate, i.e. opening only when the snare is hit but not when the high hat is played.

Although it won’t replace my RNC’s the ACP will get plenty of use around here. The folks at Pre Sonus have obviously paid attention to FMR’s success with their unit. The ACP-22 offers very good, fairly transparent soft compression and limiting. For that alone it is worth the price. But with the addition of the gates and other thoughtful features this unit, at under $400.00 retail, should have a welcome and useful home in any home or project studio and especially in any live rig.

With the proliferation of DAW’s in home recording, some enthusiasts have been searching for an easy, clean and efficient way to record digital audio pristinely and directly into their computers without additional conversion or interruption of the signal path. PreSonus has answered with their new Digitube, a single-channel tube (12AX7) mic preamp/DI with digital S/PDIF output and standard XLR out. It employs a dual servo gain stage (no capacitors) which provides low noise and wide dynamic control. It has a Neutrik combo connector (1/4” and XLR) with 48v phantom power available. The XLR can accept line level signals when the Line/Pad switch is engaged. The ¼” input accepts instrument level only and is not affected by the Pad/Line switch. There is also a 20db pad button. An internal clock is switchable on the back of the unit from 44.1 to 48khz.

I found the unit to be very versatile, especially at the price ($250. retail). The EQ’s were quite manageable, though better suited for boost than cut in some frequencies (the high’s cut nicely but dropped significantly out if I cut more than 5 or 6db). I found I could get a pleasant mic signal using several variations of drive (tube section) vs. gain but the big surprise for me was the DI capability. PreSonus doesn’t advertise or market this unit as a DI so much but it worked splendidly for me in a live setting when switching between a few different acoustic instruments and was very warm and consistent. Driving the unit too hard does reveal it to be a bit noisy but here again I was impressed that it was “musical” noise as opposed to just noise. It could easily have been used as an effect as much as an accident and still work. All in all a neat little unit that just might come in handy now and then in the studio and on the road. www.presonus.com

The PreSonus Digimax (street price around $1350.00) is an ingenious device. I purchased it initially as an interface with my Pro Tools LE rig at home to provide eight more 24-bit clean converter channels rather than rely on the analog inputs provided by Digidesign. Though I’ve found the analog inputs in my LE box to be useful when recording guitars I’ve found it lacking when tracking others instruments or voice and LE provides only two channels of pure, 24bit digital inputs via the SP/DIF connection. With the lightpipe interface on the Digimax “patched” directly into your computer lightpipe input, you can bypass the analog converters entirely and process your sound with pristine 24-bit technology on eight simultaneous channels. It makes a big difference, believe me, and the converters are quite good; better than most I’ve heard at a similar price point or slightly higher. But it doesn’t stop there. Each channel of the Digimax contains a Class A discrete input buffer followed by a dual servo gain stage providing wide gain control and low noise. Each channel has 48v phantom power available, a -20db pad and channels 1 and 2 have a phase reverse switch and Hi-Z inputs (only channels one and two have the ¼” input option). Also available to each channel is an enhance feature which cuts the signal 3db between 250khz and 5khz and provides a “smoothing” effect on some mid-rangy signals and a limiter which is part of a dual-concentric control; the inner control of each channels’ potentiometer provides up to 60db of gain in addition to the units’ inherent gain of 12db for a possible total of 72db. The outer control sets the threshold of the limiter from 0 to +24db.

In addition to the ADAT lightpipe on the rear of the unit is a 9 pin connector which can provide either AES/EBU or SP/DIF outputs as well as eight XLR balanced outputs, one for each channel. The word clock output and input are accessed through separate BNC connectors on the back of the unit and can be set to send 32k, 44.1k or 48k. The word clock is good but maybe not as good as what may be available elsewhere. In fact, I use my Digimax synced externally to my Lucid A/D box whose clock is more precise and the Digimax runs much smoother and has been trouble free in this configuration.

The pre’s on the Digimax are surprisingly good as are the limiters, though you have very little control over the parameters of the limiter as there is no attack, release or ratio selection. The area the Digimax has really come in handy for me which I hadn’t anticipated is as an interface for my Akai MPC 2000 sampler/drum machine. I run the analog outs from the back of the MPC directly into the XLR inputs on the back of the Digimax then straight into Pro Tools. This is where the enhance feature and the limiters really come in handy for me and have gotten the most use. I find I can clean up some of the “woof” associated with rough, 16-bit samples with the enhance function and tidy up level discrepancies with the limiters before it enters the digital domain. Having 24-bit converters for each channel via the lightpipe is just a sweet bonus. Rarely have I heard samples or the drum machine sounding so good on the way in, which leaves much less work and hassle for me when it comes time to mix.

This is a versatile, hearty unit that is surprisingly sturdy, is built well and I really like the separate power supply which is also solid. It’s a thoughtful, terrific interface for DAW’s and so much more. One note of caution: The Digimax runs very hot. Do not rack it close to other susceptible equipment.

Ribbon mics are all the rage these days and deservedly so. With their sharp detail and warm, accurate sound reproduction, ribbons have become the new flavor-of-the-month in the audio world, especially with the advent of digital technology. I myself have been lusting after one (or more) of these beauties for a few years now. However, most of the better ribbon mics manufactured today are very pricey, some as much as a few thousand dollars. What’s a poor engineer to do ? Thankfully, there is a very viable, affordable and excellent option for my fellow cash-strapped audiophiles: Stephen Sank DX-modded Beyer ribbons.

Stephen Sank’s father operated RCA’s mic division for almost 25 years. His son has taken the knowledge passed on from his father and applies it to inexpensive ribbon mics, like Beyers, thus making them far more effective and responsive. The mod basically employs replacing the pre-existing ribbon for an RCA 77 ribbon, making these puppies really come alive.

The Beyer ribbon mics, M130, M160, M260 & M-500, all use the same ribbon elements, which is a semi-rigid & rather thick one. It is corrugated only near each end, to allow movement, but is longitudinally pleated through the major middle section. This is essentially a compromise between a ribbon & a dynamic(more accurately, what RCA used to call an inductor mic). It provides high durability, but at the expense of high distortion, especially in the upper end, and considerable bass coloration, due to a ribbon resonance in the range of 150Hz. RCA ribbon mics use a ribbon that is corrugated along the full length, for maximum compliance with air movement, and are over 40 percent lighter aluminum material. Properly tensioned, the resonance is in the 10-15Hz subsonic range, yielding virtually no mass coloration, except as inflicted by the physical construction of the rest of the mic, and extremely low distortion at any frequency. It happens that the Beyer ribbon is exactly the same width as an RCA 77-D/DX ribbon, and about the same length as well. Installing a 77 ribbon into an M260 mic, the result was a mic that sounded amazingly close to a real 77-DX, except for having no optional low cut for close use. I have put it to use on percussion, acoustic instruments and guitar amps already and I am very, very pleased with no end in sight. The same mod was then applied to an M500. What resulted was not the same as with the M260. Due to the other paramaters of the M500, installing a 77 ribbon did not change it from a close mic to a distant mic, as it had with the M260, as it still had low end rolloff & presence peak response. However, the bass was cleaner & the presence peak was considerably reduced. More importantly, the top end was way, way smoother. So, the DX mod on the M500 basically turns it into simply a whole lot better close/vocal mic which I immediately put to use on my new record with fantastic results. I wanted a more detailed, accurate and “in-your-face” vocal and that’s what I got. At $125 mod cost, I think it represents an good cost/performance value, perhaps the best purchase I have yet made in audio.

P.S.-Often Sank has already modded mics in stock for sale on his website: www.stephensank.com

Mics, mics everywhere ! The Chinese mics are coming ! Look out ! Anyway, you've probably heard something already about inexpensive mics being manufactured in China. The idea being to capture the magic and essence of the classic German mics at a fraction of the cost. I am not here to debate the issue. I am going to tell you how the new C-1 and C-3 mics from Studio Projects performed in actual studio applications for me.

I first used the C-1 and C-3 on my SWR Strawberry Blonde amp/cab for re-amping on some mixes I was doing. I first sent a dead, dull, crappy snare sound out from my Pro Tools LE hardware box to the amp. With the C-3 on the amp about six inches away (the C-3 has a -10db pad and cardioid, omni and fig 8 polar patterns, while the C-1 has no pad and is cardioid only) and the C-1 a few feet away I got a snappy, airy composite. Exactly what I needed for the mix. I then sent a single room mic track (don't ask) through the same chain to create another "room" track. In essence, a double. This time I got a better sense of the C-3 on its own and again it gave me exactly what I needed. Of course there was a subtle difference between the original and the re-amp, that's kind of the purpose. But it was more subtle than you'd think. I then re-amped a guitar track and used the C-1 as a room mic. Worked just fine. The true test though came in a tracking session where I used each of the mics on amps and as room mics. The C-1 is great as a room mic and on amps. It seemed to handle SPL very well though I didn't hit Man O'War levels. The only significant difference I noticed between the C-1 and C-3 as far as character, compared to the Audio-Technicas I usually use, was that the SP's had a little more "air", a little more open to my ears which was perfect in the room applications anyway. My electric guitar tracks needed less EQ than the tracks I had recorded with an SM57 or AKG C3000 on the amp.

On vocals, I've been specifically looking for a mic to brighten up my sound a bit. I seem, like many male bari/tenors, to have a problem around the 600-800 khz range. I had been looking into some old, used mics another engineer friend had turned me on to. But they're usually too crispy to use in other applications. The C-3 gave me a robust sound not unlike the U-47 I used for my last record but with definitely more "air" and less gunk in the lower mids. On acoustic guitar both mics performed well but not quite as good as close mics like the Audio-Technica and Carvin Tube mic I had been using. The AT has a little more body which flattered the guitar better. But the C-1 was terrific as the third room mic when I had the Carvin on the fretboard and the AT 4047 on the bridge. It was in fact better and more "live" than the 4033 I had previously used which will now go to better use. Finally, I used both mics together to cut some live guitar/vocal demos for some new songs for my bandmates. Positioning the C-3 with the side of the mic pointed at my nose in fig. 8 pattern and the C-1 about eight inches from my mouth for my vocal, I got a nice rich tone and exactly the separation necessary between the vocal and acoustic guitar I'd expect in this application.

The champagne-colored capsules for both mics are polished, professional and very solid. These are not toys. All in all I'd say they're pretty decent mics for a great price. As a Zen-like habit I regularly rotate mics as not to get too used to anything or stale. I will certainly find a lot of uses for the C-1 and C-3. Are they gonna' replace your vintage mics ? Uh, no, but did you really think that you were getting a vintage mic for $200.00 - $350.00? (C-1 is around $220.00, the C-3 about $350.00) Besides, all mics have their own character, even within individual lines, and you need a wide variety of mics for various applications. Vintage isn't always the answer. I'd say test for yourself. Mostly it comes down to what YOU need to hear. BTW: Some retail stores will let you try gear, especially mics, if you're serious. Highly recommended. You'll hear differences even between two of the same mic regardless of brand.

My seemingly endless search for the perfect tube DI has led me to Uncle Albert's doorstep. Here I found a no-frills, basic but excellent vacuum tube direct box for under $500. ($449 Retail). All the essentials are here; ¼" in, line level TS and XLR out. Only the XLR hits the transformer which is proprietary and custom designed for this unit. There is a step attenuation switch on the rear of the unit which acts as a pad/lift. It measures a neat, compact 8" x 5" x 3" and fits as a half-rack space unit on a shelf or in a live rig or pedalboard. Most importantly, the sound is clear, open and terrific in all frequencies. The unit imparts just the right about of warmth without being intrusive and I can easily see two units for use in mixdown from live stereo mixes or for pre-mastering. I have been using it in my live rig with 5 or 6 different acoustic instruments and it remains consistent throughout. I can even use it at home in my studio to record guitar tracks direct or to feed a cab for that classic tube amp sound (not surprising since Kevin, the designer, also builds and repairs tube amplifiers). Simple genius. I want two! (Uncle Albert's 1-800-416-2444)

I have been using Waves’ awesome plug-ins for years. The MaxxBass 101 is their second foray into the world of hardware processors (The L2 Level Maximizer being the first). In essence, the MaxxBass adds back into your signal harmonic information up to one-and-a-half octaves below the chosen fundamental. This extends the perceived bass response of your speakers and/or the low harmonic on potentially wimpy bass tracks. This is particularly useful when using most drum machines, which even when using the best samples fail to pass harmonic information below 80 Hz in most cases. Additionally, it should be particularly helpful to those home enthusiasts who may be lacking some bottom and/or high-end gear due to cost restrictions.

In a session I used the MaxxBass to add some low frequencies to a bass track I had played previously using an acoustic-electric Washburn bass. This bass is notoriously vacant of low fundamental due to its piezo-based transducer. I am constantly looking for ways to improve its depth and tone. The MaxxBass couldn’t have been simpler to use. It has two knobs: Frequency and Intensity. I simply tuned the MaxxBass frequency knob to the fundamental at 85 Hrz and turned the intensity to set the amount of bass I wanted added to my signal. That’s it and it really works. I immediately could feel what I was missing in those tracks. Suddenly, I didn’t need to buy a new bass! Be careful not to overdo-it. A little goes a long way. Add too much intensity and your tracks can get mushy. I also tried the MaxxBass on some sampled kick drum tracks and there it really shined. It even felt like the kick had new ‘uumph’ and presence. On traditional analog consoles and sessions where the MaxxBass is being employed you need to simply insert the MaxxBass into your bass, kick or aux channel. This will ‘print to tape’ the psycho-acoustic effect when you mix down..

For those like myself who work at home on a DAW and don’t have multiple physical inserts, voicings, or DSP to support many plug-ins, here’s a re-amp trick to using the MaxxBass: Send the output of your track to the DAW’s output (like Digi’s 001 box for example) to the input of the Maxxbass(don’t worry-the 001 and MaxxBass both have balanced outputs/inputs). Then take the output of the MaxxBass back to and input of your DAW system onto another new track which is record enabled and record the new track with the MaxxBass added to the signal. Now you have a new bass track with the added presence of the MaxxBass process. However, you will now likely have some latency issues with the original track. In Pro Tools to rectify this you employ a very simple technique which is also commonly used to make guitar and drum tracks ‘tighter’, ‘fatter’ and ‘more massive’. Look at the waveforms for both tracks. Identify (and listen for) what seems like a common transient. Mark your cursor there on the re-amped track. Zoom in as far as you can, each time moving your cursor closer and closer to the actual transient event, thus getting tighter to the sync point. Press ‘Command’ ‘,’ (Command-comma) which creates a sync point. Now, go back to the original track and find the same point. It will be slightly before the other point obviously. Make a sync point there (command-comma). This will create a tiny triangle on the bottom of the waveform on your track. Click ‘Ctrl’, ‘Shift’ and hold them while you take your grabber (the ‘hand’ icon) and select the track you want to move. You will then see it line up exactly to your original source track. This is the same method the pros use to line-up room tracks with direct tracks for guitar and room tracks to close-mics on drums to make them bigger, fatter and wider..

In live application the MaxxBass should be used between the amplifier and the mixer and should be tuned to 70-90% of the speakers’ cut-off frequency. Because the MaxxBass removes energy residing below the frequency level from the input signal care must be taken to insure that the frequency isn’t set too high above the speakers’ cut-off or it could degrade the speakers’ response in that frequency area according to the manual..

Though primarily designed for live applications I found the MaxxBass to be particularly useful in spicing up limp bass tracks and kick drum samples. Listing at $350 (street around $260), it is a welcome addition to the Waves product line and particularly cost-effective for project studios, home enthusiasts and small clubs who are always looking for bang-for-the-buck and more bottom. The MaxxBass 101 supports stereo analog inputs and outputs, both XLR and TRS./TS (The MaxxBass 102 half-rack unit supports RCA connectors-list $250).

Recording never stops being a wonder to me, nor how we seem to make records for almost no money at all. We were faced with the usual challenges when we started on The Strangelys' debut record. We had no money, not enough time, scheduling issues, and did I mention not enough money ? The recording of "Spare Bedroom" proved to test our mettle as a band, as musicians, and as recording enthusiasts in more ways than we could have previously imagined.

The drummer for The Strangelys and also my best friend, Pete Abbott, met a young woman on tour in Norway and, well, you know the old story. Except that he married her and moved there! I think his brother and our bandmate Mike and I figured maybe this was the end, even before the beginning ! Probably wiser souls would have quit there. Though we didn't know exactly what to do Mike and I began laying down tracks on one of those portable, digital recorders mainly as demos and therapy I guess. Maybe we hoped that if we threw ourselves into the work we'd start to forget Pete wasn't around. Fat chance. Anyway, we did manage to lay down nine tracks over the course of six months. This really helped us develop the essence and true personality of our sound, as it was, but they also started to sound pretty good frankly. We really wanted to make a "garage-band" record except with really good sounds. We wanted especially to take extra care with our guitar tracks which both Mike and I had been grossly dissatisfied with in the past. We didn't have money but we had time and endless effort. Whatever it took to get the tracks to sound the way we wanted, we were willing to go that extra mile every time, no exceptions. Though we were using a drum machine for percussion we had a great one, the Akai MPC2000, and we really learned how to adjust the parameters and sounds. This is key. We actually fooled a lot of industry vets, some of whom, no lie, actually complimented us on our drummer. We were getting pretty cocky there for a while until….digital hell. This is a place where I know reside and thrive on a daily basis but at that time it was deadly. Due to an operating error inherited by a bad upgrade, we lost everything in one touch of a button. All nine songs. No un-do. Gone. Bye-bye. See ya'. It really took the wind out of our sails to say the least. We were crushed. Maybe now we should give it up.

A few months of sulking led us back to playing some gigs to get ourselves back into it. But every single drummer we hired to replace Pete let us down. Every single one. They just didn't want to do the homework even though they, not we, were getting paid. That was the last straw. Mike and I looked at each other and knew we had but one choice: Call Pete. To our suprise, Pete was feeling a little restless after a year in Norway not playing. He said he could fly in briefly and cut basic tracks with us if we sent him a tape of the songs well ahead of time. BUT this meant that we had to rehearse AND record the basic tracks for the record in ten days before he would need to return home. Complicating matters was the fact that we had only settled on a permanent bass player for the group a few months earlier. We hadn't even had a chance to play as a 3/4 unit, forget Pete. Previous to discovering the wonderful and magical Lori Adams, we had decided to record the tracks with a few NYC pals such as Mike Mesaros of The Smithereens and Andy Shernoff from The Dictators. If Lori was daunted by taking on learning an entire albums worth of songs with a new group in a very short period of time she never showed it. Though everyone had cassettes of the songs that were already written, as the principal songwriter in the group I was also still writing. Nevertheless, we pushed on in pretty near desperation determined to get this done together. We were on a mission.

We spent the first five days of the allotted ten to rehearse, with one day off in-between. This proved much easier than we had initially thought. Pete's the grooviest, most unbelievable drummer and he has impeccable time. No wonder he was tapped to take over for Steve Ferrone when Steve left the Average White Band. Pete and Lori just locked. She is awesome on the five-string bass. We then retreated to an old stone barn in the woods of Eastern PA, Maggie's Farm, run by Matt Balitsaris who also owns Palmetto Records, one of the hottest Jazz labels in the world. The barn is acoustically brilliant thanks to sandblasted old stone walls that were then polyurethaned. The fact that Jazz cats come far and wide to record here is no wonde with the high ceilings and gorgeous sound and surroundings. Since we only had four days to track we decided to record to 20-bit ADAT since that was the format at Maggie's and we could afford to purchase one to do overdubs on at home to slave tapes (!) after Pete was gone. More on the slave tapes later……

Technically speaking, we miked up the drums and room with various Senheiser, Shure, Audio Technica's, Neumann's, etc.and tried to capture the space as well as the character of Pete's custom Ayotte kit. Lori's bass was run to a Telefunken 72 to a Pultec EQ to a Manley Massive Passive to tape. No wonder it sounds huge on the record. Another wise choice we made was to rent some of this gear from a local tech guy, Jim Hildenberger from Analog Brothers. Jim builds custom tube gear and amps and the fact that he decided to show up and stick around on his own didn't hurt the sounds we got to tape. He was real helpful and time-saving in some cases. We saved some money on the rentals and got to use classic gear we never could imagine owning. We weren't really concerned with Mike's and my guitar sound since we had the luxury or doing our parts later after Pete had left. However, we actually got quite a lot done on guitar as well by routine isolation. I would have preferred using the room when recording the guitars as well but, alas…..not meant to be. Our main concern was the bass and drums. Mike and I did pretty okay later on our own I think, even if sometimes by accident.

My wife and I were renting the first floor of a two-family house on the Delaware River in Eastern PA not far from Matt's studio. Mike and I had already set-up shop in the "spare bedroom" where we had been making demos for the previous year. We were determined to create fresh, nasty, cool guitar sounds, the "ones we hear in our heads", finally to tape. We'd be really disappointed in the past with how what we played ended up sounding on record. But frankly some of it was our fault, some of it others' fault and lots can get lost in the communication. We took it upon ourselves to make sure we knew what was going on in the process and the proper way to execute it. Time has never been better spent even if we went in wining. I can't recommend highly enough researching and educating yourself about your tools and your environment. If it sounds like shit you only have one place to go in the end and that's the mirror. We again rented and borrowed amps, bought a few select mics, some packing blankets and methodically and laboriously spent the summer of 1999 toiling in that bedroom. For almost two weeks at one point it was over 100 degrees with near 100% humidity. It was truly insane in that 8x12 space at times as you can imagine. Mike and I are both perfectionists but Mike has perfect pitch. I've learned to respect it and it is a beautiful thing but it's enough to drive a mortal over the edge. That said, there's no-one I'd rather go into battle with than Mike. He's a consummate pro as is the whole band. I'm very blessed. We worked and sweated our way through the rest of the summer widely experimenting on our sounds, tone, mic placement, weird shit we'd read about, etc. We really took the time and tried our patience to get the right combinations that we felt we needed. In our case time was a blessing.

This was never more evident when I realized that I had fallen ill with what was to be eventually diagnosed as a very-rare, genetic neurological disorder that is incurable at the moment, but acute and intermittent. The combination of the symptoms and various medications that I was given had basically destroyed my body. Some days I couldn't walk or even get up out of bed. Again, I credit Mike for sticking it through and not quitting when things seemed grim. Thankfully I learned to adapt and at least function enough to finish the record. The toughest part actually was not knowing for a very long time what was going on. Now, nothing bothers me. But it did slow us down quite a bit on many occasions. I even totally blacked out halfway through a vocal for the song "Happy". No kidding. Mike said I complained about pain, said something, and he found me face first. Woke up about 90 minutes later and finished the damn vocal. It's on the record. We did eventually chase out the bothersome neighbors who lived upstairs as well during the recording (we didn't start it, honest). The final straw 'prolly was when we had the Fender Reverb Pro on 71/2 through a Marshall cab at 10:30 one night in the narrow hallway playing slide on a Les Paul with a brass slide. Yeah, that must have done it. We did a good deal of close micing with a 57 while paying close attantion to room micing as well with usually in this case an AT4033. We eventually had to combine or decide which track to lost due to track limitations. Most of the best sounds were actually combinations of room and close mics.

To get back to the aforementioned slave tapes, they were a nightmare. First of all, ADAT's suck. That break down, fall apart, get out of whack regularly, you know the routine. But they're also handy and inexpensive which is why we put up with them this long. (Note: I no longer use them at all. I've been liberated !) Mike and I were also not prepared to monitor the slaves in a realistic, simple way. I owned merely a low-budget Yamaha mini-system which I had used for years doing demos. Thankfully it at least has a subwoofer and they actually aren't too bad, though we shouldn't have been relying on them. Even though I now use Mackie's I kept the Yamaha's to cross-check mixes on as a reference. But most of our monitoring came down to headphones which was accurate enough for the most part but very trying when you're playing to only a stereo mix on two tracks. I don't recommend this unless it's an absolute necessity. In our case it was whether we knew it or not at that time and it worked out mostly because of luck and because we have terrific friends who are splendid engineers who take great care with us when mixing !!! Anyway, Mike and I got real adept at getting exactly what we wanted by the finish of guitar recording. Knowledge is king. Valuable information.

By the time I was done with the rest of the overdubs and vocals I was ready for someone else to come in and mix. My buddy Scott Kempner (The Del Lords, The Dictators) got together with Mike Caiti at Coyote Studios in Brooklyn to mix four songs while my trusty engineer pal Peter Robbins rounded out the other 8 songs. Scott and Mike did their mixes right from the ADAT masters. Conversely, Peter and I dumped the rest into Pro Tools so that he could start tackling them on his terms. This was the first time I had ever mixed in Pro Tools and while we didn't really have much of a choice I had some trepidation. Which all proved to be generally unfounded. Peter's a crackerjack engineer first but no less a great Pro Tools operator. The stuff I've learned from him spins my head. He's been in on PT since Ver. 1.0 Scary. What's interesting is that though Scott and Peter were mixing on completely different systems in two separate studios the results are remarkably even and seamless. I couldn't be more pleased with what they did. We mastered with Kevin Hodge at The Master Cutting Room in NYC. Kevin's a wiz. He's got great ears which were especially attuned to what we brought him and he's got a great attitude.

Because of illness, scheduling changes, label shakeups, etc. we didn't get to see the final product until this past Spring 2001 but that no less dampens my enthusiasm for what we did. I now have a new, professional studio of my own, all grown-up like. Everything I ever wanted just about. I'm really settling into Pro Tools on my own though there's always much new to learn. It's been a long road but I'm very thankful to all my friends who patiently helped along the way and glad I took the time to learn the right way. Recording is so much easier now and more pleasurable if that's possible. I can't wait to make the next Strangelys record. Only this time in a bigger bedroom.

Eager to promote new releases and play a live show in Austin during the busiest week of the year, I happily headed out to the 2001 SXSW. I was also anticipating hanging with friends and colleagues and other musicians I had come in contact with over the past year, in particular my No Depression/Alt.Country online pals, a bunch of fans, artists, writers, radio folks, drunks, schmucks and all-around decent Roots-Rockers who meet via Yahoo groups online every day. We had planned ourselves a little get-together, a newsgroup tradition, but this was the first gathering I was able to attend. Little did I know that this festival deliver additional unlooked for musical talent into my hands.

The night before I was scheduled to leave an already productive week at SXSW, I made time to take a break and hang with some online pals, Cole Roulain and Jeannie Howell to jam. We had never met before in person, so I was directed to a motel on the outskirts of Austin, not far from my own. What transpired in that hotel room would abruptly transform our lives over the next few months.

I wasn't on the lookout for any new projects as a producer, in fact I was already booked to start a singer-songwriter record for another artist and was also about to begin pre-pro on the formidable Song of America project, our entire history as a nation in Folk song. That project alone was expected to take most if not more than two years to produce with various artists' participation. But frankly any producer worth his or her salt would have immediately changed their schedule after hearing this duo. Cole and Jeannie sang like brother and sister together, though just friends (living far apart in CA and OK), and each had incredibly beautiful and poignant songs. Their individual talents were impressive but together they brought out the best in each other, forming a rare musical partnership. I offered them the use of my studio, secretly wishing but never actually expecting that they would make their way to the East coast in the near future. But fate has that funny way of creeping up behind you…..

The day Cole returned to Oklahoma he was fired from his day job. Soon enough I received an e-mail asking if I was serious. In short order, Cole was on his way to Sacramento for two weeks to write with Jeannie exclusively. They chose the name "Rosasharn" for the group. Tom Joad's sister.

The material they sent me a few weeks later on cassette was brilliant. The acoustic guitar and vocal demos were hastily recorded and somewhat ragged, but the songs showed immense promise. Better than the hotel room, better than I had even anticipated. I couldn't wait. Jeannie flew to Oklahoma to meet Cole and they drove for two days to reach me in PA. They wanted to get started right away. I had just finished up working with Scott Kempner (Del Lords, Dictators) the day before so I needed a good night's sleep! Plus, I really didn't know what to expect production wise. We hadn't the time to go over or even talk about arrangements. What did they want to do ? How did they want to track ? Had they recorded before other than home studios?

Normally I would start simply by establishing the tempo. I'd fire up my MPC-2OOO and create a drum loop to play to. Instead, Cole just wanted to let 'er rip. Awwwwlllllright then. And so we did. We started the next day. Most of the songs were tracked live, one instrument at a time with no click track, into Pro Tools 001 Ver. 5.1. Cole or Jeannie would just play acoustic or mando or whatever and we'd overdub everything to that. We used the new Carvin tube mic on the fretboard near the sound hole, an AT 4047 on the bridge and an AT 4033 about four feet away as a room mic generally. All three mics went into an HHB Radius 10 tube pre with the Carvin and the 4047 sent to an FMR RNC compressor set at Super Nice, -3, 2:1, 6.0, 1.0, and 0 gain to my Lucid A/D box into PT. There was no compression on the 4033 which proved valuable later at times for ambiance and clarity and it was routed into PT analog. Thank God they are great musicians and were well rehearsed on the material and actually gave it some thought. It showed. Their time was terrific. Believe it or not we tracked almost everything to bare acoustic scratch tracks. That's why it sounds like the Basement Tapes sometimes . This was the basic mic set-up for most of the sessions. My studio was fairly resonant thanks to Mexican tile floors and cedar everywhere so we played into that. I'm more into "room" than reverb anyway but that's another subject……

I told them that I had contracted a drummer if necessary since none of us really play (ha!). But Cole made a call on-the-fly and decided that we should give it a shot ourselves. I was pleased by his imagination. This proved to be both fun, futile, frustrating and ultimately very educational. I am fortunate enough to be in possession of a custom Ayotte kit courtesy of my best-friend and drummer in The Strangelys, Pete Abbott. Pete was the also the drummer for the Average White Band until he met a young lady on tour in Norway…….anyway, I got his drums. Of course, any reasonable man would not even be contemplating doing this themselves but that said we kinda' stared at the kit for a while. Ummmm…..how does this go ? Then I told the team that I had been using a Porchboard as a kick drum/bass device and frankly it was pretty cool. Not only, when used properly, does it actually sound like a kick (sometimes better) it also emits an actual tone at around 100 khz. A bass tone. It really fattens up and defines the bottom of almost any mix. So we used that into a DBX gate to eliminate between hit pops and clicks into an Avalon U-5 split with the mic out to the HHB for gain and warmth to the RNC set approx. the same as the acoustic mics except not Super Nice. The thru was sent to my Strawberry Blonde amp mic-ed with an AKG 3000 back to the HHB to the other channel of the RNC into the Lucid. Worked like a charm. For snare we tracked separately using the Carvin tube mic on it but usually about a foot or so above and away, sometimes more. That went into the HHB to the RNC which I try not to overuse even with percussion. I know it's hard to get peak levels and dynamics when someone's hitting something but I'm picky. I'd rather not over compress. So the RNC was set at a max of 6:1 but mostly between 2:1 and 5:1. Of course we had to actually PLAY to the scratch tracks. Nevertheless, we persevered. Our biggest obstacle was actually our inexperience. We never had to tune a drum before. We were really on a roll and rather than slow us down we decided to allow for and play into the room sound using a small washcloth to deaden the snare where applicable. This worked okay ultimately but was quite tricky at times. I have since learned how to use a drum key ! On a few songs Cole wanted to play the snare and a small cymbal combo. We used the tree from the high hat and one of the high hat cymbals. It was fantastic ! We mic-ed the cymbal about two to three feet above while keeping the Carvin still on the snare for a left-right split on two separate channels. This was way more manageable for us than trying to set-up and control a kit. Cole played most of the snare parts as I remember and the three of us all contributed on various percussion. One thing I take pride in is having a wide array of percussion instruments. It goes a long way on a low budget.

When we cut the bass I hadn't yet received the U-5 so we ran the bass into the Strawberry Blonde, took the direct out to the HHB to the RNC, etc. I used mostly the AKG 3000 on the Blonde cab on a separate channel for bass also to the HHB and RNC, etc. This was the most productive experiment of the whole recording. I love the way my bass now sounds through the U-5 but what we did really surprised me for sound and depth.

Jeannie has easily one of the most beautiful and expressive voices you'll ever want to hear so listening to her all day was not a chore. It's so full, rich, smokey and sexy all at the same time. And Cole was a real pro. Both of them were two or three takes and that's it. Mostly I think we used first takes in the final mix when I could. I used the 4047 on Jeannie as I find it responds especially well on female voices. I used the Carvin on Cole, occasionally changing the pattern from cardiod to omni. For some reason it just suited his voice on certain tunes. Very gentle, sometimes close to 1:1 (all Super Nice), compression was used on the vocals. It being their first record they needed only a brief lesson in mic technique but other than that what you hear is what we tracked. No EQ. None. Not on acoustics, not on bass, not on vocals. Only on the electric guitars 'cause I recorded them shitty. And percussion. Even in mixdown I tried to use no EQ and no extra compression, allowing the dynamics of the players and the room to come out. And PT wasn't used to "create" anything. Everything was played. That's one of my rules with Pro Tools: You gotta' play. It's great for editing, cost effectiveness and audio fidelity but it's not karaoke with a mouse and a monitor.

We tracked 16 songs in 6 days, one of which they wrote and recorded after they got here. There's an elegant fragility to their vibe which I think we captured. At times it reminds me of a Roots-Rock Velvet Underground. All of the instruments were played by the three of us. It was mayhem. But it was a blast. We actually lost a day to technical problems at one point. We had 5-6 days to mix but we lost another day when we had to entertain guests. So I mixed the record in four days. Not a brilliant idea most of the time but we were rolling and they were excited. Me too. I thankfully revisited it a few times briefly over the next two weeks to clean the mixes up and double check things. But for the most part it was recorded and mixed in 12 days. An amazing experience.

Who can say what makes a great record ? It's subjective, right ? There are too many intangibles, especially for a new artist. Personally, I consider Makeshift Valentine is a great record. It feels great. And I feel really good about the whole experience regardless of what eventualloy transpires with the record commercially. That's all you can ask. I graciously handed over the finished CD and encouraged the new group Rosasharn to go seek their fortune with Bloodshot, New West, Rounder or another company while wishing that our release schedule for our own little Indie label was not all full up already this year.

****Footnote: As of this revision date, we are proud to announce the release Rosaharn's "Makeshift Valentine" in the Fall of 2003 on Split Rock Records. (www.srrecords.com)

I sent the following e-mail to my good friend Scott 'Top Ten' Kempner on 12/16/02 shortly before Christmas:

"Top: Just finished my new record. Should start mixing soon. This will be the first holiday ever without sweating over a record !!! Maybe I can finally relax and enjoy…."

For you Pro Tools users, hopefully what happened to me next will never happen to you. If it does, maybe this article may offer a few glimmers of hope and help lead you out of the darkness. Here is the story of the most harrowing nine days of my career as a ProTools engineer/recording artist to date.

Let's start with the particulars. I am running Pro Tools LE 5.1.2 in a home project studio on my Mac G4 450 running at 400 MHz with 512MB of RAM, OS 9.0, and 60 GB of internal hard drives.

My recording sessions for the current album had been proceeding brilliantly. I had experienced the least amount of hassle I've ever had making a record, partly due to increased skill as a ProTools engineer and partly because I was recording and playing most of it by myself, with very little outside influence or interference. However, as I was cleaning up sessions and backing up files I encountered my first setback: One of my sessions would crash Pro Tools and my computer whenever I tried to open it. This was puzzling. The same session (henceforth known as session #1) had been opening previously with no problems.

I tried several times to restart my computer and re-boot the session but every time a total crash occurred. Eventually I found if I opened another session other than #1 in Pro Tools, after re-booting first, but before opening session #1, then I could open #1. I was already in Pro Tools when it crashed the first time but, whatever, I was glad this approach got me back into my session. For the record, whenever this happens it means that there are corrupted files within your session. I have also learned that this means things may go from bad to worse unless you take the right corrective measures sooner rather than later. Not doing so or not knowing the right corrective measures was my first big mistake. Even if the session was working fine and you did nothing to change it before the session crash, this type of corruption can randomly occur, especially when sessions get beyond a certain size or your hard disk is getting full. If your session is laboring, has many tracks or has a lot of edits and crossfades take note. (There is a possible solution at this point which I will get to shortly) As soon as I could open session #1, I immediately backed it up to another drive, using 'Save Session Copy In', the only approved method by Digidesign, and proceeded to continue to work. I basically backed up corrupted files. The lesson learned is if there is a problem, it will not go away but will rear its ugly head again. Eventually you will have to deal with it and you may be in a worse position at that point to fix it as we see as the adventure progresses.

Later that same day I was speaking to a Pro Tools buddy and 'guru' friend of mine who innocently suggested that I run Norton Disk Doctor on the drive on which I was having problems. This was my second significant mistake. I was recording via FireWire and while cost effective and efficient, it is newer technology and I have since learned that the only version of Norton approved for FireWire is Version 7.0. I had Nortel Disk Doctor 5.0. I learned after the fact that this minor difference was probably responsible for my next major hassle. Upon returning to my sessions the next day I found I now had problems on a few other sessions besides session #1. In fact, another session (henceforth #2) would not open at all, not even if I opened a completely new session and tried to import tracks to re-create the session. Evidently, Norton 5.0 had no idea what it was searching or correcting and actually caused more harm than good. Important safety factor: Only run Disk Doctor or Disk Warrior as a last resort. They are very invasive and very difficult if not impossible to un-do. Now, what to do…..

The call now went out to my salesperson at Sweetwater, Bob Hall, who had sold me my whole Pro Tools rig including the Glyph FireWire drive which housed my current problem sessions. We discussed the possibility of the Glyph drive itself having problems and he suggested I back everything up again and send him the drive. This didn't phase me as I wasn't entirely pleased with the Glyph. While its performance had been quite adequate until now the disk ran a bit too noisy for my recording environment. In the meantime, he referred me to their in-house tech-guy Todd Tatnall and their in-house Digidesign guy, Don Mackie. Both were very helpful. Don's first suggestion was to go to my systems folder and dump my Pro Tools preferences, my Digi setup and my DAE prefs. He said that they've found that over time there are so many commands and calculations in sessions that they can possibly build up and cause problems. Pro Tools automatically creates all three of these upon opening your next session. It's a bit of a hassle but all you have to do is re-set some of your personal preferences and operation commands. Doing this seemed to have no positive effect so Don then suggested I make some more attempts to retrieve the files through another new session. Though I had already tried this, I was willing to give it another go. Alas, this did not work and it seemed our only solution was to try and import the audio from each playlist and track for all 24 tracks in the session. This could potentially take several hours, if not days, as it means opening a new session, re-creating all of the alternate playlists for individual tracks by memory (how many takes did we do on that again?!) and then re-editing all of them, one by one. Obviously this is a great deal of work so as a last resort Don told me I might as well run a new version of Disk Warrior which I promptly ran out and purchased. While it found some problems on the disk and supposedly corrected them, this did not resolve the situation. Both session #1 and #2 were still screwed-up and would not open. Slowly but surely I went about re-creating session #2 from scratch, since it had the most tracks (24) and thus the most work. Luckily I found the last numbered session saved before the corrupted session would open and had 16 of the 24 tracks available, the last eight tracks having been recorded just before session #2 went kaput. Remember: Save as, save often ! I only had to recreate 8 tracks from scratch rather than 24. Whew !

After recreating the session on my Mac hard drive I transferred it back to the Glyph FireWire drive I had been working on. Sure enough session #2 worked fine but now the original session #1 that started this whole thing wouldn't open up at all, not even the backups on other drives. Fortunately, unlike it's sister session that had to be rebuilt from scratch I was able to open a new session and simply import tracks which allows you to actually take the exact track with audio and automation, plug-ins, etc. into a brand-new session on another drive. Bee-youtiful ! With all fourteen sessions backed up to my old 5200 Maxtor FireWire drive, it was at this point that I packed up the Glyph and sent it back on its way to Sweetwater for review.

However, now I was without extra drive space to continue my work. It was imperative that I find a cost-efficient drive to which I could record, as well as back up so at least I could go on vacation in peace. It seems that as usual the audio industry can't keep up with itself. The Glyph Companion 7200 RPM 80 gig FireWire drive I had been using cost $550.00 in July 2002. This particular unit was supposed to be an upgrade from their previous unit due to a quieter fan and a faster, more efficient processing chip, which in theory would accelerate the transfer rate, and a 2 GB cache. Remember that phrase 'cache'. Since an 18 gig SCSI drive costs approximately $550 this sounds like a steal. However, an ad I saw for Pacific Pro Audio listed a 7200 80 GB Oxford 911 drive for $230.00. Wow ! Sign me up. I gave PPA a call and spoke with sales rep/tech Brian Cornfeld. He assured me that the PPA drive was Pro Tools compatible and unequivocally would work on my system. Feeling like I had sipped from the Holy Grail I quickly ordered a 80 GB drive to be delivered by 2-day air so as not to lose any more time.

I had no problem transferring the sessions to the PPA FireWire drive. The problems came when I tried to open a session and run it. The first DAE error message I received was -36 which I had never encountered before. Incidentally, it also crashed Pro Tools and my computer. I re-booted and tried it again. DAE error -9019 and crash. So I give Brian a call at PPA and said "What gives ?". He suggested I download OS 9.1 as OS 9.0 was not compatible with my Digi001 and ProTools 5.1.1 configuration according to the Digidesign website. Okey-dokey. This seemed strange and so I said as I had been successfully recording both to internal hard drive and FireWire with that configuration for over a year, but I went ahead anyway and downloaded OS 9.1 from Mac's website. The free version is in 17 parts and takes a few hours to download at 44K. After a successful upgrade, I proceeded to open a session on the PPA drive in the hopes that I was finally on the right track. After installing 9.1 I got a new DAE error -9073. Brian assured me this hasn't happened to anybody else using the PPA drives and that possibly it was because my Mac was only running at 400 Mhz. The other possibility that Brian mentioned was that the combination of crossfades and my configuration would make the drive work too hard and even suggested that many people recorded without crossfades. Wait a second, didn't he tell me originally that it would absolutely work with my set-up ? Again, he protested that I was the only one with this problem. He agreed to take the drive back and credit me. However I was out the two day shipping charges and the return shipping charges.

At this point with Christmas fast approaching, my wife, knowing that I would not leave on vacation without having multiple back ups of my album, kicked into high gear. Her theory was that if PPA thought they could make a Pro Tools compatible hard drive for less than $500 then another company was probably also doing it, and doing it right. A search for "audio recording" and FireWire on the Internet turned up little, but one mention of the EZQuest FireWire drive in relation to video editing caught her eye. The EZQuest Cobra FireWire was a 7200 RPM FireWire drive available in 80GB or 120GB and was retailing online for $199.00 for the 80GB. Best of all EZQuest had an informative web site and technical support. My wife spoke to two people at EZQuest who were very helpful and arranged to have the drive dropped shipped if we would contact one of their distributors. Their customer support assured us that the drive would work with Pro Tools, both TDM and 001, and was being used by many high profile musicians. They promised if we had any trouble with the drive, that their customer support would walk us through the installation process and get us up and running no matter what. This was on Friday, December 21st. We received our drive the next morning (Sat.). Instantly we knew we were onto something here. After installing the software we were prompted to format the new EZ Quest drive. (The EZ Quest comes with idiot-proof instructions) The instructions also prompted us with the following: For Digidesign and Final Cut Pro users-"Click the 'tune' button for payload size 512 bytes and the max transfer rate to 32 kilobytes". Now I finally, really knew we were on the right track. We re-booted and tried our new drive. Oops ! DAE error -9036. A quick stop at the Digidesign answerbase told us that this was caused by our extenstions and told us how to resolve the problem.

Voila ! It worked. The EZQuest drive was able to play back all the sessions that I had backed up. I spoke further with PPA, since I thought it only fair to give them feedback as I would be writing about my experience with their drive as well. One thing I asked about was cache size as the Glyph specs tell you that there is a 2GB cache size and the EZQuest documentation refers to a 2 GB buffer. Brian at PPA either didn't know or wouldn't tell me what the cache size was on the PPA drive. The reason this is important is that I was able to record on the PPA but it was not able to support multiple edits and crossfades on my system. Especially crossfades. I can't conceive that other folks are creating recording sessions in pro situations without edits and crossfades but to each his own. If the PPA drive has been successful elsewhere it is likely to be paired with TDM on a more powerful computer.

Wait, not so fast. It seems that my original session #1 is still having some problems, though everything else is working swimmingly. So I call back Don Mackie, the Pro Tools expert at Sweetwater and tell him where I'm at, and that I have successfully retrieved my session but that now it's acting up. Well, it seems my queries weren't falling on deaf ears at Digidesign. Having conferred with the brass back at Digi, Don informs me that Digi has found that when sessions are very full with audio, have a lot of tracks (I guess close to the max 24 in my case) or are recording on a half-filled or more FireWire drive you can experience corrupted files. Ahhh….now they tell me ! It seems that SCSI drives are proven more efficient than FireWire, at least at this point in their genesis, when they get full. I asked "Is there a remedy?". "Yes" he replied. ( Now you tell me !!!)

It seems there is a function under the edit window called 'consolidate selections'. If you highlight a complete track from start to finish with all the edits and crossfades and select 'consolidate selections' it actually burns a new, single wav file of audio with crossfades and edits and including all automation. This new file is much easier for your system to read, your system will no longer labor on that session and you can actually get rid of the corrupted files by 'select unused regions' in the edit window in your audio file bin then selecting 'clear selected'. This will eliminate those files permanently from your disk. Caution: Please make sure you back up everything you're working on in that drive at least once to another drive before you do this. At least then the original files that were used to make the audio before editing will still be somewhere. This is important if you decide that you want to do away with any of your edits or crossfades or simply start over from scratch or if anything else goes wrong down the line. God forbid you need them. After you utilize 'clear selected' the original audio files are GONE FOREVER. So back up and don't blame me . Of course, if I had known this little tidbit before, some, if not most of my aggravation could have been avoided.

So what have we learned ? Well, the first and most important lesson for all Pro Tools users is 'Save as, save often'. Save as often as you can remember to. 'Save as' every time you make a significant change to a session. That way if you don't like it you can toss the new session and go back to where you were. Back-up !!!! Backup, backup, backup. I know it's a pain-in-the-butt to back up every session at the end of every hard day in the studio and I know it eats space that costs money. Consider it part of your professional recording routine, no different than tuning your instruments or turning you gear on and setting levels. If you don't back up, don't bitch. In my case I had backups that helped but weren't the solution. However, I would have been NOWHERE without them. Next, STAY CALM. Seriously, I know it's really easy to freak when your life and song and maybe even a clients' session goes out the window but you are not doing them nor yourselves any good. You need to have a clear head, be prepared for a possible long-haul and be calm. Tech support can't help you if you lose it (nor would they likely want to). The more concise you are in your discussions with tech support will be very helpful. They have many people yelling at them all day and their time and patience is limited (Remember, it's called 'Pro Tools' not 'Amateur Tools'). It's a very methodical process. Don't lose your cool. Once you have detected some files may be corrupted, re-evaluate where you are in that session. If you have a lot of edits and crossfades over several tracks think about 'consolidating selections'. You'll likely find your session will run better. Dump your Pro Tools preferences, Digi setup and DAE prefs at least once a month. Again, not a delight but certainly a good maintenance idea. As for cache size, size does matter. FireWires are great because they're modular (you can link up 50 or more) and inexpensive but make sure you can run it on your system. Check your extensions manager and make sure your extensions are in step to your setup. Only run Disk Doctor and Disk Warrior as a last resort and consider running them only from the CD itself, not installing them on your system. They are very invasive programs. You don't want Norton file saver monitoring your disks because it interferes with Digi's own file backup system. It's really easy, as you can see from my example, to make things worse by going around and chasing your tail. If you do need to use these utilities, make sure you have the latest version. These products are updated and changed regularly. Just because you have last year's version doesn't mean it's approved for your current setup. Be very cautious before you do something you can't fix. Make sure you really understand a command before you execute it. Develop a good relationship with a reputable dealer who backs up the products they sell and provide support. Sweetwater may sometimes charge a little more than you might pay for the same item elsewhere, but when it comes to investing in high end audio items on which you may need support down the line, I highly recommend you use a pro audio retailer like Sweetwater. They never hesitated once in all my dealings with them to return my calls and work to find a resolution to the problems I was encountering. . Their number one concern was my satisfaction . That's service, that's pro. Last but not least, if you have to re-create your session from scratch after trying everything else it's still better than re-recording the whole thing. Maybe .

Pro Tools: Myth, Mayhem or Magic?

It had to stop. It had gone too far I thought. It was at the end of a long, good day. I was helping a dear friend, a near twenty-year tech for some of the biggest names in Country music and no slouch as a musician himself, make his first professional solo recordings. We had tracked a full song in less than a day, no small feat by any standards, and had only a final vocal left to do which we would save for another day. But could I fix the guide vocal a bit so he could have a CD burned to listen to in the interim ? Could I ‘Pro Tools it’?, he asked. All right, hold on, stop right there. Could I ‘Pro Tools it’? I knew what he meant but it goes much further than that.

What is Pro Tools ?
For those who don’t know, Pro Tools is the computer-based digital recording software made by Avid/Digidesign that is used by over 90% of recording acts and studios worldwide. It has practically become the industry standard platform in the last five years (there are a few other platforms such as Cubase and Nuendo that are very similar to Pro Tools but since Pro Tools is the industry leader we will focus on it). When you listen to your favorite music, whatever the style or type, it’s a good bet you’re hearing Pro Tools at work. It has replaced analog tape and other digital recording devices as the most popular and widely-accepted recording medium. Certainly its editing features are what originally catapulted Pro-Tools into the mainstream. Imagine seeing the actual waveform of the sound you recorded on the computer screen in front of you and also having the capability to slice, cut and paste those waveforms however you like, wherever you like. Ahh, but this also highlights its possible abuses, which we will get to in a moment. Many audiophiles are attracted to it because it is a truly pristine recording platform, meaning no more tape hiss, no noise, nada, nothing at all. Complete and utter silence. (Personally I dig tape hiss but that’s another matter) Also, it records with 24-bit headroom which is 8-bits better than the CD’s we now listen to (which is why we are now seeing SACD and DVD audio discs which are 24-bit and sound closer to studio-quality than ever before) and has virtually unlimited track counts. Plus, computer hard disc space is much cheaper than analog tape. Right now you can get 80 gigs of hard drive for less than $100, sometimes much less and fit as much as 80 finished songs on it. Tape runs around $130 for a 24-track reel and only fits 3 songs per reel. So recording digitally in Pro Tools is quiet, efficient, user-friendly and super-high fidelity. So what’s not to love?

The Fix
What my friend was suggesting when he asked me to ‘Pro Tools’ his vocal was in fact to manually manipulate his vocal with my mouse and the software to correct mistakes and possibly pitch. Where would he get that idea? Well, it happens every day to varying degrees. How much is the issue. Throughout history audio has always been manipulated to the best of then-current technology so I won’t get into ethics (I mean, really, in the music business?). Legendary Motown engineer Bob Olhsson: “There’s nothing new to tuning vocals. As far as I know vocal tuning has been done since the mid-1960’s when it replaced bringing in another singer to hit a high note or two”. Why should it be any different for Pro Tools? Is the development of Pro Tools any different than the invention of the microphone or the first time a guitarist plugged into an amplifier ? “Yes, it is different”, says Michael Wagener, producer of Ozzy Ozbourne, Extreme and Dokken among others. “Amplifying a good performance is different from ‘fixing’ a bad one, and not in a good way”. In other words, while vocal tuning and other tricks of the trade can be employed with analog tape, the difference is that with Pro-Tools the ease and speed of using computers means that the tweaks and edits one can do are virtually limitless. So what’s important is quality control and restraint and the best in the biz usually are extremely cognizant of this.

This software and technology are still relatively young in audio terms. We are still learning how best to use it. While some purists praise it for its pristine audio, other scoff at Pro Tools as an unstable babe in the audio woods. After all, analog tape has only been around for about 50 years, and recording itself barely 100! Pro Tools is also now readily available and easily affordable to the home studio enthusiast and hobbyists who don’t necessarily have the proper training to use it correctly or sparingly (I’m not slammin’ here, just telling it straight. I was there myself once). A lot of bad records are being made with Pro Tools now that anybody with enough cash can buy the home version of Pro Tools (Pro Tools LE or M-Box), lots of gear and press their own CD’s. Why, I even overheard a record label exec tell another colleague at last year’s SXSW Music Festival in Austin, TX, “Why do we have to give them a recording budget anymore? Just buy them Pro Tools and have them do the record at home”.

But even scarier to some than the amateur creations it has spawned, is the magic or mayhem Pro-Tools can create in a professional studio. Somewhere along the line someone is going to be using Pro Tools to manipulate what was actually recorded in the first place. How much? Is there any moral high ground here? Well, as any music veteran will tell you, in the old days you actually had to play or sing every note that appeared on a recording all at once in the same room in one take together. You still have to play most of the notes today, just not necessarily at the same time or even in the same place. Overdubbing, the art of laying newly recorded tracks over pre-existing ones, has become increasingly commonplace nowadays and Pro Tools allows you to do this ad-infinitum and even send tracks around the globe to be recorded and sent back if you choose. Obviously, this is where it can all start to get out of hand. Peter Robbins of Murmur Music in NYC sums it up neatly, ‘Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should’. When does it stop being real? Indeed, MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) sequenced devices/instruments don’t have to be played throughout the song to create loops and music in the first place (Christina Aguilera’s ‘Genie in a Bottle’ was recorded almost exclusively this way). Choruses sung only once are ‘flown’ around and dropped in the song every time a chorus appears. Drum loops are created via machine rather than using played percussion and rhythm tracks. Mistakes are fixed by editing in another take, or phrase, or word, sometimes not even from the same place in the song, or in the same pitch. Sometimes musicians don’t even have to play a song all the way through to get a finished product. Multiple vocal takes, sometimes hundreds, are whittled down, into a composite, ‘comped’, into a useable track. Now, all professional recordings aren’t done this way, but a good many of the Pop and Hip-Hop hits of today are. What about Country? One thing Music Row still has going for it is that most of the music made on the Row actually gets played, at least on name acts. Session players are still the norm, though Pro Tools is the format they’re probably recording on. What is being used liberally in both Pop and Country are Autotune and other software ‘plug-ins’ or emulations of hardware gear to twist and ‘fix’ the sound.

Tuning the wild beast Most of what the average, moderately informed music enthusiast refers to as ‘Pro Tools-ing it’ is probably more likely referring to pitch-correcting devices as much as editing and mixing wizardry. Some, like Bob Olhsson, think it is the practice of Autotuning and fixing vocals itself that made Pro Tools a household name in the music business, “The editing features brought Pro-Tools into the mainstream of post-production for video and film years before it was recognized for music. In my opinion it was Autotuning software itself that primarily helped Pro Tools infiltrate just about every popular music production studio”. Autotune, made by Antares is currently the most popular software and was first brought to international attention for the Cher hit, ’Believe’ in which used it as an extreme effect (combined with a few other devices). But what Autotune is more commonly used for is to tame poor pitch for a singer who habitually hits bad notes or frankly, doesn’t sing too well at all. The problem is as with most new, sexy things is that with more critical listening we now hear ‘warbly’, undesirable artifacts which (think practically every Madonna song from the last five years) can now be attributed to Autotune abuse. To be fair, some very well trained and talented engineers and producers didn’t abuse it but an awful lot did. What’s revealing is I’ve been recording with Pro Tools for over ten years yet I’ve learned the most detailed and useful information in the last eighteen months from an industry vet who started with three-track tape! It’s not the tools, it’s the talent, and a good subtext to this whole article is that you can improve the medium but you still need highly skilled, experienced and critical professional craftspeople and technicians to make it work at its highest level. Lately, effects and software ‘plug-ins’ like Autotune which are designed specifically for computer-based systems are generally more under control and understood but it begs to wonder what the next ‘innovation’ might bring.

Used correctly, all of these tools and effects can and should lead to better and increasingly higher quality recordings. Whether it makes better music is debatable. “I don’t think recordings are any better today than they were 50 years ago”, says Dave Martin of Java Jive Studio in Joelton and writer for Recording Magazine, “Fifty years ago an artist had to prove himself capable of drawing a crowd before the opportunity to record was generally available to them. With the tools available today, you often see performers in the recording studio who have NEVER played live. And THAT is what’s killing music, not any specific recording technology”.

Should the average listener even want to know? What’s the difference if their favorite star has their vocals manipulated as long as the song sounds good to them? Does it have any less weight? On the surface, maybe not. I hark back to the bubblegum hits of my youth that I know now were artificial contrivances with bands that didn’t even play their own instruments, but it still doesn’t make them any less dear. But it does matter when the trash outweighs the diamonds and the ‘Oh Brothers’ are more the exception than the rule. Maybe the music industry needs to be exciting and supportive again and get back to the player and performer, the most direct route to the audience. Modern digital audio recording programs can assist in that connection with higher fidelity and less noise. But most of all maybe it needs to be musical again, not driven by any technology or accountants. Should you care? “If we are looking at the music business as a vehicle to make money, there is nothing wrong with trying to get the best possible result in the shortest amount of time, even if it means polishing a turd. Other industries do the same thing. If we are looking at it from a purely musical standpoint, it’s not helping to say the least”, adds Michael Wagener.