Student Essentials

Posted on April 26, 2012 by Dylan Mallia

Here at Sound Devices, thanks to the thriving audio student population in Sydney, a great deal of our walk-in customers are actually students from the various nearby universities such as the Australian Institute of Music, SAE Institute and JMC Academy.

This produces an interesting pattern in the stuff that we sell regularly and here is the “essential line-up” of products that students can’t seem to get enough of. They’re basically my recommendations for getting the most out of not spending a lot at least terms of what you can end up spending in what is surely one of the most expensive to equip yourself trades around.

Keep in mind you can always come into the store and have a chat about your individual needs to make sure you’re getting the best product for your situation. We’ll always try and do students the absolute best deal we can to help get you started.

 

1. Pro Tools 10

Let’s face it, whether you’re a recording engineer, a musician who needs to record their ideas or a composer… you need a solid Digital Audio Workstation program that is going to enable you to do so in a way that suits your work flow. Pro Tools is still the industry standard DAW and no matter which university you go through, you’re going to come out very familiar with it.

Another key element of Pro Tools success in the student communities is Avid’s student pricing program. If you have valid identification as a tertiary student, you can score Pro Tools 10 in its full form for just $308.00 at our price. For a program that normally retails at $675.00, that’s a significant cut. To make things even better, you get 4 years worth of free upgrades to whatever versions of Pro Tools that follow, which essentially translates to hundreds of dollars saved.

Click here to order it through our website, all you need to do is email us a copy of your student I.D.

 

2. Audio Technica ATH-M50 Closed Back Headphones

Headphones are essential anywhere that sound is concerned. Anyone working in the music industry should really have a reliable decent pair of headphones whether it be for casual listening, working on your tracks, listening back while you record etc. etc.

M50s are really well designed closed back headphones and they’re designed for minimizing sound escaping from the cups which is great for keeping your music to yourself on public transport and keeping your backing track out of the microphones while you record individual parts etc. They also come with a nice pouch for keeping them safe while traveling.

The M50s retail for $249.00 but we always do students a great price, come in and see us for more info.

 

3. Novation Impulse 49

This one is perhaps more for the composers out there but it’s got plenty of features that anyone operating a DAW can benefit from, especially the faders for controlling volume with your hands or the transport controls for hitting recording without dragging your mouse around.

The Impulse series is probably the best choice for fully featured controller keyboards on the market right now and the 49 key version gives you the full set of faders, knobs and pads while being sized appropriately to fit on most average sized desks.

The best part about the Impulse series over something like the Akai MPK series is the bundled mapping software called Automap. Automap will automatically map out your Impulse to work with your mixer or your plugins, something that the MPK simply can’t do. You have to painstakingly manually map it out which is a headache you can do without.

You can score an Impulse 49 for just $349.00

(That’s $96 cheaper than the Akai equivalent too!)

 

4. Sennheiser MK4

Whenever i’m speaking to someone who’s starting out in the world of audio, i’m always asked to recommend a decent all-rounder microphone. If you want something good straight up that you won’t just toss aside as you progress through your course and go for more expensive elaborate microphones, the MK4 is the mic for you. It’s a genuine German designed, German made large diaphragm condenser microphone for a fraction of the price you would pay for a world famous German made Neumann microphone (who happen to actually be owned by Sennheiser).

This mic is going to sound great on anything from vocals to acoustic instruments like guitars, electric guitar cabinets and even as a drum overhead.

The MK4 retails for $499.00 but we sell them for about $399.00

 

5. Yamaha HS50 Studio Monitors

Let’s face it, it’s difficult to produce decent mixes on iPhone earbuds. As an audio engineer, a good pair of properly designed studio monitors are an absolutely essential part of your set-up. We have a lot of budget conscious monitors here at Sound Devices but in our experience setting customers up with them and comparing them all, the HS50s almost always win.

They’re designed by the same company that brought you the famous NS10s that you’ll find in almost every studio around the world and they have the most even response out of any of the monitors in the same price bracket from other manufacturers.

A set of HS50s sells for $529.00

Posted in Guides, Midi Controllers, Pro Tools, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Pro Tools 10 Tip – Ram Caching vs CPU power

Posted on February 21, 2012 by Dylan Mallia

 

To some, Pro Tools 10 didn’t look like it really changed a whole lot. One of the biggest innovations is its ability to cache audio into your computers memory which allows much faster use of the audio rather than straining your hard drive and reduces the strain on your CPU etc.

If you ever run into CPU overload errors when mixing with a few plugins simultaneously like many do, you could stand to benefit significantly from increasing your computers ram. Speaking from personal experience, taking my 2009 MacBook Pro from 4gb to 8gb has definitely made a difference for me. If you’re on 2gb, you stand to benefit enormously. You can also go all the way up to 16gb which is more appropriate for those who are also relying heavily on virtual instruments as well.

Please note that the amount of ram you can add is dependent on the number of slots your computer has but most have two slots which is enough to go up to two 8gb chips equaling to 16gb total memory.

If you’re not sure how much ram your Mac currently has you can find out in the system profiler app under memory.

We can perform such ram upgrades for you free of charge minus the cost of the ram itself if you’ve purchased your computer through us. Feel free to contact us for individual quotes and advice.

 

Posted in Digital Audio Workstations, Pro Tools, Software, Virtual Instruments | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Current run-out deals

Posted on February 15, 2012 by Dylan Mallia

Here’s a current list of some stuff we’ve decided to let go dirt cheap. Our loss is your gain! Call now on (02) 9283 2077 to check availability if you have any concerns.

 

Blue Microphones Mikey

The original Mikey is unfortunately incompatible with the iPhone 4 and 4S but is still a fantastic add on for earlier models, iPod Classics and iPod Touches.

RRP $159.00   >>>>>>>>>>>  Sale price: $79.00           50% off!!!

Click here to purchase through our webstore or call now to reserve one in store.

 

Korg nanoKEY/nanoPAD mkI

Available in black or white colour schemes while stocks last. Please call or email regarding availability.

nanoPAD – RRP $129.00   >>>>>>>>>>>  Sale price: $64.99    50% off!!!

nanoKEY – RRP $119.00   >>>>>>>>>>>  Sale price: $49.00    Over 50% off!

Click here to purchase through our webstore or call now to reserve one in store.

 

Motu Microbook


RRP $399.00   >>>>>>>>>>> Sale price: $199.00           50% off!!!

Click here to purchase through our webstore or call now to reserve one in store.

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DAW Specific Hardware

Posted on January 31, 2012 by Dylan Mallia

 

Here are a few cool add-ons to your favourite Digital Audio Workstation of choice…

 

Pro Tools

Avid (previously under the name Euphonix) MC Artist and MC Mix

The Avid Artist series (Formally by Euphonix as the MC series) is a range of universal control surfaces (meaning it will actually work with DAWs like Logic or Cubase but it is made by the company behind Pro Tools now) that are very powerful yet very reasonably priced considering you get motorized faders which have always been quite an expensive commodity in the pro audio world.

You can find more information and pricing on the Artist Series by clicking here.

 

 

KB Pro Tools Keyboard Cover


 

For those of us who have difficulty remembering the essential shortcuts that are necessary for a quick and easy work flow, there’s a simple solution which not only helps you remember the shortcuts but keeps your existing keyboard clean.

KB Covers make a simple rubber case that goes right over the top of your Apple slim keyboard (or laptop keys) and can easily be removed and cleaned.

 

M-Audio Axiom Pro Series

 

 

M-Audio make a series of controller keyboards with a software backing called Hyper-Control which is unique to Pro Tools and works very well in regards to mapping your keyboard out in Pro Tools. Considering M-Audio is an extension of Avid, you don’t need me to tell you that this keyboard is going to work exceptionally well with Pro Tools.

Available in 25, 49 and 61 key versions.

 


Logic

 

KB Logic Pro Keyboard Cover
Same deal as the aforementioned Pro Tools keyboard covers. Choose whichever you use as your main DAW.

 

Cubase

CMC Series

 

 

The CMC series is probably my favourite of all the DAW specific hardware I know of. It’s effectively based around a modular style of working, breaking down each specific function of the DAW into multiple individual smaller pieces. This allows you to pick and choose exactly what you need in front of you and could save you a lot of money.

They’re quite reasonably priced at $200.00 a piece ($250 for the faders model). Be warned though, they work very well with Cubase but unfortunately cannot work to their full potential with other DAWs at this point believe me, we tried :’(

You can find more information and order the CMC series by clicking here.

 

 

Reason

Balance


http://www.propellerheads.se/products/balance/img/balance-full-405px.jpg

 

Although Reason is gradually becoming an underdog in terms of being a standalone workstation, a lot of people are still happy to stick with it especially in terms of using it as a rewire. New users of Reason can take advantage of this cool new controller they’ve put out called Balance that comes bundled with Reason Essentials. It retails for $499.00 but you can grab it now for $449.00 here.

 

 

Ableton Live

Ableton excels through its quite unique interface, mainly because of its highly popular clip launching ability. This is an extremely useful way of using your DAW to perform live which is why a couple of companies capitalized on this and created some awesome hardware companions from studio or live use.

 

http://images.amazon.com/images/G/01/musical_instruments/detail-page/novation-launchpad-hero-450.jpg

 

The Novation Launch pad is a simple no frills way of putting your clips at your fingertips. It is quite compact and features only the grid, no level controls etc. Ideal for the user who still relies on their computer for all other functionality. You can read more about it and purchase it by clicking here.

 

 

Akai take this concept to the next level with their APC series. They’re built like tanks, come in two different sizes and offer complete hardware control of Ableton Live. You can look at the separate models features and pricing by clicking here.

 

 

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The Complex Task of Recording Drums

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Dylan Mallia

My apologies for my inconsistency in posting up articles lately, this time of year always gets really busy for us here in the shop.

Today I want to talk about something that we get asked about quite a lot in the store because of its difficult and often expensive nature. I speak of course of tracking drums. When tracking a drummer the most obvious problem is the sheer number of microphones you need to run simultaneously to be able to adequately capture the sound at a professional level.

Let’s break it down. You’re going to need four microphones minimum to be able to achieve a semi-decent drum sound. Using only 4 means you should focus them on the core elements of the kit: the kick, the snare and a pair of overheads to try and capture anything else.

This can be rather successful if done correctly, although it does limit you in regards to your control over the mix. If you’re wondering how to go about this in the first place I assume like many customers I have spoken to, you have a two pre-amp interface like an Mbox at home and are looking to expand on what you already do at home.

Now, interfaces generally only jump from two then to four then to eight pre-amps which as i’m sure you can imagine, brings a jump in cost. You have to think long and hard about how you’re going to approach this problem.

 

 

I’ll start straight up with one of the most cost effective solutions without compromising on quality. The Motu 8pre is a formidable firewire interface sporting 8 analogue pre-amps, enough to run eight microphones simultaneously and get a very well rounded drum recording. Capable of running 24 bit/96KHz audio, it’s a reasonably good quality basic way to simply get that large number of pre-amps without spending a huge amount.

Motu is a strong brand name with a huge range of high quality products.

The Motu 8pre retails at $799.00 but our online sale price right now is $699.00.

 

 

Now if you’re trying to keep things as tight as possible budget-wise, recently M-Audio finally provided a solution. The Fast Track Ultra 8r is M-Audio’s biggest USB interface in their long standing line of budget interfaces.

Sure, M-Audio gear isn’t the flashiest around but it is reliable and the cheapest I would endorse going with if you want a solid product. It will get the job done and it’ll allow you to do it with all the flexibility that having the option to run 8 microphones simultaneously will give you.

The Fast Track Ultra 8r retails for $699.00 (AUD) but you can grab one in store or through our online store for $560.00 (Less than the price of a dual mic-pre Apogee Duet!).

 

 

If your budget will allow you to go for a solution that offers uncompromising quality and versatility, check out the Apogee Symphony I/O. The Symphony comes as an empty shell and is fully customizable using any of these five modules:

 

  • 8 Analog I/O + 8 Optical I/O
  • 8 Analog I/O + 8 AES I/O
  • 8 Mic Preamp
  • 16 Analog IN + 16 Optical OUT
  • 16 Analog OUT + 16 Optical IN

 

Keep in mind the Symphony I/O is designed for a high powered professional set-up only. It cannot be used with anything other than a Mac Pro as it requires the use of a Symphony system 64 PCIe card to connect. I suggest this for those who may be thinking about taking their profession to the next level and opening up a studio of some kind as opposed to a simple home studio set-up.

 

Now, perhaps when you look at this you realise you don’t have enough microphones either and it’s all going to cost too much no matter which way you look at it. Fear not, there is a solution, provided you have the patience and determination to persevere with it.

 

 

Superior Drummer 2.0 by Toontrack is a high quality versatile drum plugin in which you can use its high quality sample libraries with MIDI to lay out an entire song without ever using a microphone. You can achieve quite complex rhythms and fills by drawing the midi notes in yourself but it takes time and patience to achieve a drum pattern that sounds natural but it can be done. The best part of this is all the recording is done for you and the price is very appealing to the budget conscious engineer.

I use Superior Drummer myself and highly recommend it as a great composition tool if you aren’t a drummer and don’t have someone readily available to help you make drum tracks for your songs. Superior Drummer 2.0 retails for $319.00 but you can buy it now in store or through our online store for our price: $252.00

 

You may be wondering why I haven’t mentioned any 4 mic-pre equipped interfaces should you decide you’d rather try and do your drum tracks with 4 microphones. This is because I generally say if you’re going to spend money on getting a bigger interface to do a bigger job you might as well do it right the first time and save yourself some grief later on. All of these brands do smaller interfaces anyway and you can easily find these by visiting our website or their websites too.
All prices and information quoted in this article is current as of the 7th of December 2011 and are subject to change at any given time. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to give us a call in store, the number is on our website or visit us and take a look for yourself. Thanks for checking our blog out.

 

Written by Dylan Mallia at Sound Devices – 7/12/11

Posted in Audio Interfaces, Drums, Software, Virtual Instruments | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Let’s talk Drum Machines/Sample Pads

Posted on November 14, 2011 by Dylan Mallia

The art of making drum beats without an actual drum kit is not exactly new, perhaps one of its most common uses surfaced with the radical rise of hip-hop/rap music in the 1980s in which producers created their tracks with heavy use of samples, both of drum beats and misc. sounds and even synthesized percussion.

Why use these devices instead of perhaps hiring a session drummer and making your own drum tracks the natural way? The cost of a natural set-up is significantly greater. You’ll have to hire a good session drummer if you don’t have someone you can use for free and you’ll need expensive microphones and studio gear for the same quality of sound as the samples you can get with some of these products. It will also be much more time consuming to build the tracks you want this way.

In this article I’m going to take you through a few of the products on the market right now that represent this kind of production. The prices I have given are current as of the 26th of October 2011 but are always subject to change at any given time.

 

 

The Akai MPD is the most simple form of a sample pad you can get. It is essentially the same thing as a MIDI controller keyboard but does not feature any keys. This is perhaps the best way if you simply need a trigger for the samples you already have on your computer. It is compatible with any of the major of DAWs.

It is the descendent of the popular Akai MPC series which dominated hip-hop production throughout the period of music technology in which the DAW power we have today didn’t exist and all samples were stored on a small memory card instead of the way a modern day MPD works.

You can still get Akai MPCs and we’re frequently asked for them but they are realistically now redundant considering the vast power, storage and portability of personal computers. The Akai MPD32 retails at $659.00 but is on sale at $527.00. You will also find smaller variations of the MPD series on our website. The MPD32 is available in store now for a demo.

 

 

Arturia released a rather dynamic drum machine called the Spark this year which is vastly more complex than the Akai MPD. The Spark is an integrated controller with its own software plugin and sample library. You can use the controller to select sounds and compose drum beats all within its controls. This video best demonstrates the functionality of the Spark: Arturia Spark.

In my opinion the Spark is reasonably good but the way its workflow is set out just doesn’t work as well as it was surely intended at least in comparison to a Native Instruments Maschine which I will describe shortly.

The Arturia Spark retails at $699.00 but is on sale now at $559.00. The Spark is also available in store for a demo.

 

 

Native Instruments make a software/controller combination called Maschine which is my personal favourite out of this selection. The Maschine is very much alike to the Spark in the way it is designed. It is a controller with twelve backlit pads, a large array of on board controls and two screens which allow you to interface with the Maschine software through the controller and seamlessly integrate with the extremely popular selection of virtual instruments by Native Instruments known as Komplete.

Maschine comes with a huge library of high quality samples too, giving it a great edge over its competition in my opinion. It also comes in a cheaper, more compact version with the exact same sample library which is even greater if you’re a mobile producer or you just don’t need the ability to scroll through instruments/Komplete as well on your hardware. Check it out here – Maschine Mikro

The N.I. Maschine retails for $999.00 but is on sale now for $749.00. We always have a demo unit in store if you wish to come in for a demo too. Check out this great demo video of the Maschine here: N.I. Maschine Introduction

 

 

Finally, Dave Smith Instruments make a selection of purely analogue “old school” type synthesizers that really put an emphasis on quality and a commitment to retro styling. Their latest product tackles exactly what we’re looking at today, but in a different form to the previous products we’ve looked at.

The all new Tempest is a seriously well designed purely analogue drum synthesizer. What this means is that the Tempest doesn’t actually store any recorded samples, it uses clever synthesis to create percussive sounds and so much more.

The downside to this product is how much it’ll cost you but the price does reflect all the nice finishing touches they make to a product like this. It is co-designed by Roger Linn, the inventor of the famous Akai MPC so you know this has the backing of the greatest designers in the industry.

Our current price for the Dave Smith Instruments Tempest is $2299.00 which is available to order in store or from our online store here. Stock is very limited currently and we would advise you contact us first to check the current status of incoming stock.

 

If you have any questions about this article feel free to leave a comment with your contact details or call any of our team in store Monday to Friday on 9283 2077.

 

Written by Dylan at Sound Devices – 14/11/11

Posted in Drum Machines, Midi Controllers, Sample Pads | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Part Six – Optional Additions

Posted on November 11, 2011 by Dylan Mallia

Hi and welcome to the final part of my little series of articles on the products that can make up a small home recording set-up. So far I’ve covered computers, digital audio workstation software, headphones, studio monitors, midi controllers and microphones. All of those things really make up the core elements of a recording set-up but, it is practically infinitely expandable. Here’s just a couple more products you will surely need to use at some point in the future as an audio engineer/producer.

The information and pricing in this article is correct as of October 2011 and is subject to change at any given time. Remember, this guide is more of a product pricing guide and does not include any information on how to use the products mentioned.

The first device worth having in your equipment is a good D.I. (direct input) box. You can easily get a good bass guitar sound going directly into your interface instead of using microphones because you need a really good microphone to get a good bass sound that way. You can’t just plug it straight into a line input though, it still needs to be amplified and that’s where a D.I. box comes in.

 

 

Radial are a brand that are well known for making quality affordable hardware, their D.I. box being one of their most popular pieces. It’s a simple piece of equipment, it’s just a mid way point between your bass guitar and your audio interface that allows the bass signal to come in at the correct level.

You can also use this with electric guitars to guide the drummer with and that way there’s no spill. I use Radial products myself and they have never let me down. You can get slightly cheaper D.I. boxes but I believe that’s when you’ll start to hear the loss in quality.

A passive Radial D.I. retails at $159.00 but you can purchase one from us in store or through our online store for $129.99 here.

 

 

 

The next thing I would recommend, especially for composers, is a well rounded bundle of better quality software instruments than the ones that come with Logic for example. This is an especially important thing to consider if you decided to use Pro Tools but would still like to compose as it doesn’t come with any software instruments. You can control the software in such a bundle with any of the midi controllers I mentioned in an earlier article.

Komplete 8 is an extremely well rounded bundle of software by Native Instruments. It combines multiple synthesisers, over 100gb of samples, guitar and bass simulation software, samplers, studio effects and more. It brings 27 individual products together into one, which would normally equal thousands of dollars worth of software but in Komplete 8, it’ll only cost you $629! (RRP: $699.00).

 

Well this finishes off my little guide to the products you should be looking at to build a beginner home studio set-up. Hopefully i’ve been of assistance in terms of improving your awareness of what exactly you will need to create a fully functional home studio and how many it will set you back.

There are many other products to be aware of that are commonly found in home studios for more specific tasks but i’ll cover them in other articles in the near future or you can always give us a call for a chat about what’s available.

Should you have any questions about this article or any of my other articles please feel free to leave a comment with your contact details or phone us at the shop any time.

Subscribe to our new mailing list at http://www.sounddevices.com.au and bookmark our blog page so you can keep up with these articles. Thanks for reading and following along.

 

Written by Dylan at Sound Devices – November 2011.

Posted in Building a Basic Home Studio Guide, Guides | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Part Five – Microphones

Posted on November 9, 2011 by Dylan Mallia

Welcome to part five of our guide to the products you’ll want to look at getting when building a home studio rig from scratch. Today my focus is on entry level microphones and building basic but diverse line up of mics.

The information and pricing in this article is correct as of October 2011 and is subject to change at any given time. Remember, this guide is more of a product pricing guide and does not include any information on how to use the products mentioned.

Microphones come in three main types:

  • Dynamic microphones – Built to handle high volume sound sources, e.g. a vocalist in a heavy metal band or percussion. These are the kind of mics that singers commonly use on stage. They are not particularly sensitive.

 

  • Condenser microphones – Much more sensitive mics that require 48v phantom power from your interface or mixer to operate. They are commonly used on acoustic instruments because a dynamic mic cannot pick up their subtle output at a suitable level.

 

  • Ribbon microphones – Ribbon microphones are generally more expensive to make and I don’t think it is necessary to include any in this article as far as beginners are concerned but you could research them yourself. They have a particular sound to them thanks to their different engineering.


Within those types the microphones can vary in size, shape and function. You will need to research all of the possible combinations outside of this particular article but I will now highlight a few budget conscious microphones for common purposes.

I’ll start with a couple of dynamic microphones. Dynamic mics are probably the most commonly used microphones in the world. Dynamic mics such as these Sennheiser models are typically built to take the abuse of on stage performers for years on end without fail.

 


The e905 is known as an instrument mic because it is designed to pickup loud instruments. It’s very commonly used on drums because of its small size for optimal mounting on the rim of a snare drum or tom. Can also be used on guitar amps etc.

 

 

The e840 is specifically designed for vocals. Many hit records have surprisingly actually been done with a simple dynamic mic to get a grainy, less perfect sound. It’s a popular sound for heavy metal records where the vocalist is screaming or for any sound source that is loud. You’ll find the most typical use for a dynamic vocal mic like this one is for live use though.

If you’d like an example of a simple dynamic mic being used on record for vocals, check out the debut album from the Deftones, Adrenaline. You’ll find it has quite a raw character that suits the style of music rather well.

The e905 retails at $299.00 but will cost you $209.00 at Sound Devices.

The e840 retails at $249.00 but will cost you $175.00 at Sound Devices.

Available in store or through our online store by clicking the name of the microphone you wish to purchase.

 

Now its time to look at a condenser microphone. Condensers tend to have a better emphasis on warmth instead of the harsh mid heavy sound of a dynamic microphone which makes them more ideal for getting a good recorded vocal or guitar sound etc.

 

 

The Sennheiser MK4 is a typical large diaphragm condenser microphone. It has low self noise and a wide SPL range. Perfect for recording an acoustic guitar or vocals. You need to make sure your interface or mixer has switchable phantom power for the mic to be able to operate though.

The MK4 retails at $499.00 but will cost you $349.00 at Sound Devices. You can purchase it in store or through our online store here.

 

You can get a different style of condenser microphone sometimes referred to as a “pencil mic” due to its long, thin shape as opposed to the upright large cylinder shape of the Sennheiser MK4. This style of condenser is also suitable for acoustic instruments but they’re typically used as overhead mics for drum kits to pick up the cymbals.

 

 

 

A classic pencil mic design is the Australian made Rode NT5. They come in pairs for the exact purpose of being equipped to do tasks like overhead mics because they can be panned left and right for a stereo image.

A matched pair of NT5s retails at $770.00 but will cost you $549.00 at Sound Devices. They can be purchased in store or through our online store here.

 

So now we’ve covered computers, digital audio workstations, interfaces, midi controllers, monitors/headphones and microphones. These are the core pieces of a basic recording set-up. I will write a final article shortly that covers a few different things you can get to expand your set-ups versatility and then we’re all done for this series.

If you have any questions about the content of this article please feel free to leave a comment with an email address to contact you on or phone us at the store on 9283 2077.

 

Dylan Mallia, Sound Devices – 12/09/2011

Posted in Building a Basic Home Studio Guide, Guides | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Part Four – Headphones and Monitors

Posted on November 7, 2011 by admin

Welcome to part four of our series of articles for the beginner audio engineer looking to build a home studio set-up from scratch. This article focuses on how you’re going to actually hear your work, whether you use headphones or studio monitors.

The information and pricing in this article is correct as of October 2011 and is subject to change at any given time. Remember, this guide is more of a product pricing guide and does not include any information on how to use the products mentioned.

For the purpose of mixing we would always recommend a good pair of near field studio monitors over headphones because its the only way to really hear the full range of sound in its intended format but you should always test your mix on all formats because it will likely be listened to through many formats. This includes speakers, headphones, car stereos, radio etc.

Obviously if you’re working away from the studio, you’re fairly limited to headphones anyway, so i’ll cover both forms, starting with studio monitors. Believe me when I say, the more you can afford to allocate for your monitors, the better. All the money you spend on getting quality  from every other piece of gear won’t mean much if you can’t hear the difference.

 

 

I’ll start with the best first. At Sound Devices we have recommended Genelec speakers over anything else for literally decades now. They have always been ahead of their time and the quality is rarely matched by other brands. They aren’t cheap, but if you care about the quality of your audio like any good sound engineer should, you need to get acquainted with a pair of these. I promise you that if you compare them with another set of monitors side by side, the difference is undeniable.

The 8020B model is the best value for money in my opinion. They boast a lot of power in a compact form without spending ridiculous amounts of money and overcompensating on massive speakers. You may feel that the bass drivers are a little bit small for your liking, in which case the 8030A model isn’t too far off.

This is all dependent on your room size though. I recommend these models on the assumption that you’re putting together a home studio in a typically bedroom sized room. Bigger rooms may require bigger monitors.

A pair of 8020B monitors retails at $1599.00 but call us for the best current price.

A pair of 8030A monitors retails at $2399.00 but we can sell you a pair for $1660.00 in store or here.

 

 

Now obviously Genelecs are not exactly ‘cheap’ speakers. One of our most popular products if you’re a bit short of going all the way to some Genelecs is the classic Yamaha HS80M. The HS80M is a well rounded and affordable studio monitor and Yamaha are in our experience, a good reliable brand.

While no audiophile will ever agree, some say that it is even better to use slightly lesser quality monitors for your mix because it will translate better to the general public who aren’t going to be using something like Genelecs most of the time to listen to your product. Most professional studio set-ups will have multiple pairs of monitors for such comparison.

A pair of HS80Ms will set you back $1199.00 at retail or $759.00 at our price. You can purchase them in store or through our online store here.

These are what I recommend but we have a large range of monitors at Sound Devices and will happily take you through a tour of everything we have if you’d like to come in for a demo.  To keep this article at a reasonable length, i’ll now move on to some headphones.

 

 

I’ll start at the lower end this time with a classic set of headphones. The Fostex T20rp have been used in studios for decades and they are all also affordable. They’re the kind of headphones that are reasonable multi-purpose but you’ll often find a number of them on hand for the musicians who will be tracking in your studio and don’t need super high quality sound for the purpose of something like a mix.

If using them for tracking is your aim, you may wish to look at the other versions of the same headphones, the T40rp or the T50RP which basically vary between semi-closed and closed backing. Closed back headphones are generally better if you intend to use them for tracking because it reduces the amount of spill the microphones will pick up from the headphones.

The T20RP mkII retails at $279.00 but will cost you $139.00 with us. You can purchase them in store any time or through our online store here.

 

 

The next step up I would go to is the Sennheiser HD-25SP II. The HD-25SP II is basically a cheaper version of their HD-25 mkII headphones. While both may look small and simple, they’re very high quality headphones and an ideal standard for mixing on the go.

 

 

Upgrading to the HD-25 mkII will get you some comfort benefits, particularly in the actual headband and this matters when you have them on for long periods of time trying to get work done. Both will still offer you a high quality experience.

The HD-25SP II retails at $299.95 but sells at our price for $209.00

The HD-25 mkII retails at $599.00 but sells at our price for $419.00

Both are regularly available in store or you can click on the links to purchase them through our online store.

Again, there is a large range of brands and models to choose from at Sound Devices and to keep this short i’ll leave it at just my recommendations but we can cater for any budget and need if you would like to come in and have a look at our whole range.

Next article I will begin to look at some entry level microphones for various purposes as the puzzle of a home studio recording set-up comes closer to complete. If you have any questions about this article please feel free to leave a comment with an email address for me to reply to or call us at the store on 9283 2077.

 

Written by Dylan Mallia at Sound Devices – 12/09/2011

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Part Three – MIDI Controllers

Posted on November 4, 2011 by admin

This is part three of our series of articles on building a complete home studio set-up from scratch which details a few of our recommended products, how much they’ll set you back and which one is right for you.

The prices and information in this article are correct as of October 2011 but are subject to change at any given time. This guide is more of a product and pricing guide, it does not contain any information regarding how to use such products.

A midi controller is typically a device that looks like a piano/keyboard but contains no sounds. Its only purpose is to act as a controller for many aspects of your DAW. You can assign virtual instruments or samples to the keyboard/pads and if your controller has faders or knobs they can usually be assigned to control things like level or panning in your DAW.

It is called a MIDI controller because it speaks to your computer in MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) language which is the standard for digital audio control.

As with everything technology related, the more you spend, the more functionality you’re going to get and some are more compatible with the DAW of your choice, than others. MIDI controllers generally come in three different sized no matter what brand you choose. 25, 49 or 61 keys. The bigger the keys, the more other functions the keyboard can generally perform because there is more real estate on the device to fit such functions.

 

 

I’ll start with what I believe is the most native to Pro Tools. M-Audio (which is owned by Avid), do a line of controllers called the Axiom series which are generally ensured compatible with Pro Tools because they are both created by the same head company. The Axiom Pro model is particularly suited to Pro Tools because of its Hyper Control technology which is advanced MIDI mapping software that isn’t really matched by any other brands controllers.

Although I say this is particularly suited to Pro Tools, it will still perform perfectly well in any other DAW. The Axiom Pro series also comes in a standard series which are coloured black and do not feature Hyper Control and you can find them all under M-Audio on our website.

The Axiom Pro series retails at $555.00, $667.00 and $778.00 for the 25, 49 and 61 key models respectively. Our prices are (in the same order) $445.00, $535.00 and $625.00 respectively. You can purchase the Axiom Pro series controllers in store now or through our online store here.

 

 

The other two brands to look it in very similar fashion are the AKAI MPK range and the new Novation Impulse range. Both feature very similar layouts to the M-Audio Axiom range but feel slightly different. In comparing the 49 key versions of each, they all feature sample pads, faders, assignable knobs, transport controls and more. All of the aforementioned controllers feature semi-weighted keys.

For how compatible a particular controller will be with your DAW, it’s best to give us a call. In terms of feel and aesthetics I personally like the Novation Impulse, having tried all three.

At Sound Devices we have a couple of bargain “underdog” brands on sale that may suit your needs and save you some money. Visit us in store and ask anytime.

 

Now if you’re on the go like many musicians and producers I know, students etc, you may want something slightly more portable than a large, heavy controller. There are a number of rather cheap miniature USB midi controllers available that are designed to fit straight into your bag with your laptop so that you can compose wherever you are.

 

 

Korg do a range of portable controllers which are appropriately called the Nano Series 2 range. They make three separate kinds, each taking a core function of a bigger all in one controller. These are:

  • nanoKEY2 – a 25 key keyboard which is velocity sensitive
  • nanoPAD2 – featuring 16 assignable pads and a touch pad
  • nanoKONTROL2 – a control pad with a lot of knobs and faders

 

Each of the nano range are available in black or white colouring and are USB bus powered. These are great if your current controller is small and for example doesn’t have pads or enough pads, these can easily be used as expansions to your pre-established set-up.

The nanoKEY2 retails at $119.99 but you can get it for $95.00 from us here.
Both the nanoPAD2 and the nanoKONTROL2 retail at $129.99 but you can get them from us for $105.00 here: nanoPAD2 nanoKONTROL2

Now that you have the means to play the instruments in  your DAW and compose wherever you go, whether it be in your home studio or out and about, you now need to think about how you’re going to hear your music. In the next article I will recommend a selection of headphones and studio monitors.

All of the products in this article can be purchased through Sound Devices and will usually be available in store for a demo, call ahead if you would like to come in and give anything a try. If you have any questions please feel free to leave a comment with your email or phone us at the store on 9283 2077.

Written by Dylan Mallia at Sound Devices – 11/09/2011

 

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