How we choose the studio equipment we buy

Us project and home studio owners are always buying gear. Here’s our top 10 reasons for buying ..

1. Gear that we absolutely need. This is essential stuff that we haven’t been able to afford before, like studio monitors when we have been making do with hi-fi speakers, or an external hard drive for backup and archiving.

2. New innovate tech. This is stuff that we never knew we needed before we saw it, such as a reflexion filter or Melodyne.

3. An eBay bargain. This is stuff that we never wanted until we found it dirt cheap.

4. Gear that we don’t want but our clients do. Like NS10s (it still hurts).

5. Nostalgia. This is hi-end hardware that we always wanted but could never afford. Now twenty years have passed, software does it better and nobody wants the hardware anymore. Except us.

6. Gear we just desire. This is stuff we don’t need, but just somehow want. Usually if we leave it a few days the desire fades.

7. DIY. These are kits that are the right price, level of challenge, and we know we will enjoy building. Even if we never actually end up using them.

8. Gear that looks good! It will take up too much room, we won’t use it, it will be impossible to maintain, but who doesn’t want an SSL or Forte console in their studio!

9. Gear we need to solve a problem. Such as a UPS or a mic splitter box.

10. Peer pressure. This is gear we think we need in order to appear “‘professional’.

Do you recognise yourself in any of the above? Right now number 10 is calling us. We have a Mackie Big Knob that we want to replace with a hugely expensive Grace Design m905. There’s nothing actually wrong with the Big Knob but .. well, you know how it is!

Thanks for reading and watching.
FairFax

Should our mixes be mono compatible?

Many professional studio engineers maintain that it is essential to ensure a stereo mix is mono compatible. They will be delivering finished masters to a client who will expect the mix to sound good on as many playback systems as possible. But is it also important for us independent music producers working in our home and project studios?

Music is almost always played or broadcast in the stereo 2 channel format. Almost. Most of the playback systems we use output to stereo speakers, headphones or earbuds. The primary systems for listening in stereo include mobile devices with ear-buds, car stereos, TV’s and home theatre systems, laptops, and of course home hi-fi systems. Even multi-channel and surround systems reproduce stereo well.

The Mackie Big Knob has a mono button to help a user check for mix compatibility

So when might our stereo files playback in mono? There are two primary scenarios. Firstly when the device only has a single speaker. The primary devices will be the mono speakers in many mobile phones and tablets. It’s possible that some people might also listen to music through the small system speaker located with a PC tower usually reserved for system sounds. Some tablets have stereo speakers but they are usually located too close to produce a convincing stereo image. Given that many of these devices will never produce anything approaching “hi-fidelity” sound, whatever speaker arrangement they have, and that we cannot optimise our mixes to accommodate them with predictable results, it’s unsurprising that many engineers don’t bother to consider them.

Another device that we might need to consider is the portable FM or DAB radio with it’s mono speaker. These devices are widely used in the workplace and home. But how prevalent are they and should we consider them?

DAB radio

Secondly there will be situations in which stereo sound is encoded to mono during or prior to broadcast and delivered in mono whatever the playback system. For example we may need to consider internet channels, such as YouTube, which may encode our stereo mixes to mono as they are uploaded, or replayed, depending on considerations such as bandwidth. The same may be true for some broadcast radio and TV. The truth is with the proliferation of new internet delivery channels we can never be sure how our mixes may be treated.

Another another important scenario in which mono compatibility might be important is live sound. Because it is often impossible to produce a balanced stereo image for all listeners in a night club or music venue, it is important that playback is mono-centric. This means either narrowing the stereo field at the point of playback or using mixes which do not feature heavily panned tracks that would produce an imbalance. Of course much dance music is already re-purposed for different uses with engineers and producers creating different mixes for different target releases; DJ’s, iTunes, vinyl etc.

Leaving aside the important considerations of music delivery for a moment, exactly what can happen when a stereo mix is summed to mono? The easiest way to find out is to try it for ourselves. If we have a monitor controller it might have a mono button, or we could reset our stereo mix bus to mono, or insert a direction mixer or other plug-in into it.

Logic master fader (left), and summed to mono (right), now missing its stereo inserts!

The primary changes we may hear are ..

1) a change in the level balance between centrally panned sounds such as kicks and lead vocals, and those widely panned stereo and mono sounds
2) changes in ambience and reverberation
3) phase shifts in stereo sounds which may affect their frequency content

The third of these problems primarily arises when a source which has been stereo mic'd contains phase related timing differences between the channels which aren't apparent when heard in stereo.

It should be clear by now that creating the most compatible mixes will involve compromise and we may feel that problematic phase issues aside they are not worth spoiling our carefully considered stereo mixes for. However it is important to check that important sounds such as lead vocals are coherent and bass retains its level and focus. Also, if you make dance music consider creating separate mono mixes for clubs and venues.

On a more positive note, it’s surprising how well many stereo mixes sum to mono naturally, and given that mono produces a very different sound field we can often be quite forgiving of the differences, providing there aren’t obvious problems. This is especially true if you don’t use stereo mic techniques.

Stereo mono compatibility is clearly a complex subject and we have only scratched the surface here, but we hope we have at least given you some food for thought.

Thanks for reading and watching.

FairFax

Build a compact electric guitar speaker cabinet isolation box

Over the summer we took a break from video production (we'll be back with more soon). But we couldn't entirely rest on our laurels. Well, too much holiday is boring isn't it? So we decided to design and build an isolation box. Like you do.

As we all know, recording electric guitar amplifiers at home can be challenging due to the kind of levels they need to be run at to achieve a good sound. The solution is to place a mic'd up speaker cabinet in some kind of isolation, such as a cupboard or the garage, and run a speaker lead to it from a head located in the "control room", and a mic lead back from it to an audio interface or mic pre. But if this isn't possible, and/or and you need to attenuate the level for neighbours or other residents, an isolation box is the logical solution.

For many of us recording at home, space is also a primary issue, therefore a box that is compact and able to fit through the average interior doorway of a house may be desirable.

The design we arrived at is as compact as possible whilst still retaining good sound isolation properties. Every centimetre counts so even the speaker cab jack plug is right angled. And of course it sits on castors, improving its isolation properties and allowing easy re-location.

What really surprised us though, was how well it works. Therefore we decided to share the design with our subscribers. If you have previously subscribed at our website you will have already received an email inviting you to download the build guide. If you've yet to subscribe you can do so now here .. http://www.projectstudiohandbook.com/subscribe/

We hope it works for you too.

Thanks for reading
FairFax

Update heaven and hell - Software vs TK Audio TK-ilizer

This month we once again went through the living hell of updating the DAW located in the studio we use to film our videos. Why did we put ourselves through this? Well, the answer is simple. Because we had to! Logic Pro X was crashing too regularly for comfort.

Because Logic Pro X had been much more unstable than pre-Apple versions, the studio had been installing all of Apple's updates as they were released, which of course included multiple bug fixes, in the hope of achieving stability comparable to the good old Emagic days. Except that with the latest update things had gone back to bad. Maybe the OS was to blame?

The studio was running an Audinate Dante / Focusrite Rednet system, and Logic Pro X, with the outdated Mavericks OS. The Dante / Rednet system comprises 2 system software components, Dante Virtual Soundcard/Dante Controller and Focusrite Rednet Control. Dante has always updated its software within weeks of a new Mac OS, but Focusrite, like many manufactures takes longer. It was not clear that Rednet Control needed to be updated but it seemed sensible to do so.

Dante Controller software

The studio should have been running Yosemite, but by the time we started experiencing problems, and Focusrite reported that Rednet Control was compatible, Yosemite had been removed from Apple's app store and replaced with El Capitan, which wasn't compatible, yet! (Note: always download and archive major Mac OS updates when you have the opportunity!).

There was no option other than to update Mavericks to El Capitan. But first we needed to check if the following plug-ins and software components were compatible with it ..

Dante Virtual Soundcard/Dante Controller
Focusrite Rednet Control
NI Komplete
VSL
Trillion
BFD3
Waves Gold bundle
Sonnox Limiter, EQ, TransMod
Korg Legacy
Session Keys Electric R
SSL Duende
Lexicon PCM native reverbs
TC Electronic LM2 loudness radar

Almost all the software was compatible, but there was one problem. Focusrite's compatibility pages were still showing no confirmation of Rednet Control's compatibility with El Capitan. This was 10 months since it's release! We emailed support. Yes, it was compatible (despite Focusrite's website still reporting "Info to follow"!!).

Focusrite's "helpful" compatibility support page.

Hooray! Everything was in place. We hit the update button at the Mac App store and installed El Capitan.

Successful install!

We then updated all our plug-ins to their latest versions. They all validated. Then we launched Logic. It worked! That is until we opened an instance of TC Electronic's LM2 loudness radar plug-in. Instant crash! Everytime!

Back to the TC website. It took some time to find that LM2 had been discontinued and replaced with LM2n. There was an upgrade fee of $50. OK, if that's the price we needed to pay to get an updated and stable system, so be it. We bought the upgrade. TC's system sent us a confirmation email which did not contain a link to the software download. We searched TC's site, found it, downloaded it, installed it, and transferred our licence into iLok. Logic crashed.

We emailed TC support. Remove the old licence from iLok they said. We did. Logic crashed.

We emailed TC support. Apparently we'd downloaded the wrong software package. Download the .zip version they suggested. We couldn't find it.

We emailed support, again. They sent the correct link, we re-installed. Logic didn't crash and we were up and running with a stable system. At last. After 4 days.

TC Electronic LM2n radar plug-in finally working!

During this drama, a TK Audio TK-Lizer arrived at the studio. For those who aren't familiar, the TK-Lizer is an affordable analogue mastering EQ. We connected it with balanced XLR cables and it worked. No crashes. No calls to support. No need to check for compatibility. It just worked. Instantly. Beautifully. And what's more, we'll wager that it will work for the next 30 years.

TK Audio TK-Lizer mastering EQ. It just works(!).

Rant over.

Thanks for watching and reading
FairFax

Why convenience is so important (and guitar amp head switching again)

As home and project studio owners, we often yearn for a new piece of gear, or to learn a new technique or skill. But having an ergonomic setup is equally if not more important. After all, why do we have home studios if not to allow us to try out creative ideas whenever we want? No travel, no waiting.

We setup our studios so there are few or no barriers between having an idea and trying it out. All our gear is hooked up exactly how we like it. We have a blank DAW template song file ready to go. Favourite mic's are already plugged in, and we have our favourite chair. Hell, we don't even need to get dressed! How many tracks have your recorded in your pyjamas?

Our studio layout can be tailored exactly to our needs. Once we have our monitors located in the best position for monitoring everything else can be slotted in. Don't like bending down to setup a piece of outboard, no problem, it's your studio so you can locate it at eye level. Want to perform a vocal at the monitoring position,  just buy an adjustable broadcast mic holder and swing it into position.

As regular readers of this blog will know, we love the idea of having several amp heads and one speaker cab. It saves space and there are lots of affordable and brilliant sounding low wattage tube heads available. The only problem is switching between them. Each amp must be powered down when disconnected from the cab, and we must wait for an amp to warm up when we reconnect it. And of course there is no way to complete a quick comparison between heads when choosing a tone for a track.

The Kahayan 8x4 amp and cab switcher does not produce new tones. You cannot process sound through it, and whilst looking professional it's hardly a striking visual addition to the studio. But what it does do is so much more useful.

Plug all your amps into it, plus a single cab, then connect your guitar, and you can power up all the amps and switch between them at will. This is the ultimate in convenience! We can compare heads instantaneously.

No other 'dumb' device we have tried has proved so creatively empowering. Sometimes convenience is more important than new gear or skills.

Thanks for reading and watching
FairFax

Why you don't need an amp and cab simulator plug-in

As we know, great electric guitar tones comprise four fundamental elements ..

1. playing technique
2. the guitar itself
3. the amp and cabinet combination
4. pedals

Line 6 were the first to identify the problems guitarists face recording their instruments at home, 1) achieving reasonable tone at neighbour friendly volumes, and 2) effective monitoring.

The POD was revolutionary and provided not just a convenient way to record reasonable approximations of  the sound of a complete rig, but for some the ONLY way. Additionally many guitarists found they could experiment wildly and produce hitherto impossible to create tones.

Today, almost every DAW comes with a plug-in that allows us to process a DI'd electric guitar sound sourced from the DI input that most audio interfaces provide. If your computer and drivers are good enough to enable you to record at acceptable latency,  real time software monitoring through your plug-in may also be possible.

Unsurprisingly, guitar amplifier manufactures have responded to this attack on their bottom lines by introducing low wattage amps that produce great tone at low volume. Whilst some have introduced digital modelling into their amps this has not, and probably will never, prove popular with guitarists, who widely regard tubes and analogue processing as the best way to achieve great tone that is responsive to playing technique.

These new amps are not only low wattage and sound great but incredibly affordable. Look no further than models produced by Blackstar, Orange, Marshall, Hughes & Kettner etc etc.

Although many of these amps have cabinet simulated DI outputs there is little reason to use them when you can run them at low volumes and place a dynamic mic (such as the Shure SM57) in the standard professional position within inches of the speaker cone.

The classic method to getting the tone you want is then to ..

1. setup your guitar gain, amp settings, amp gain and pedals for the sound you want
2. use the latency free monitor mode of your audio interface; send a copy of the input signal back to your headphones where it is mixed with the stereo monitor backing track
3. fine tune the sound by experimenting with mic placement whilst playing
4. hit record!

Because DAWs allow us to delay creative decision making right up until mastering, some musicians will prefer not to commit their tone at an early stage and want to record a dry DI signal that can be processed later. But great performances often require the right sound and 'physical' feedback that only   a mic'd up amp can provide, and hey, it never did Jimi Hendrix, Nile Rogers, Prince and SRV any harm did it!?

Thanks for watching and reading
FairFax

Exactly what is creamy audio?

You have to hand it to them. The marketing staff of audio hardware and plug-in manufactures have deftly exploited the selling potential of forums, advertorials (yes, you heard us right!) and adServer networks to target and convince us that it's not our lack of talent that produces poor results (let's face it, it's pretty hard to put your hand up to mediocrity), oh no, we just don't have the right professional gear. Yet!

We all watch those product demos introduced by amazing musicians, producers and engineers. And we all forget that it's almost always their talent that makes the products sound so good. Not that many of the products aren't good, it's just that getting the best out of them requires a lot of skill and practice.

The manufacturers promise us that with their products we will achieve the same results as the professionals who endorse them. But stop. Just think for a minute.

Once upon a time their market was professional studio owners. Not free-lance engineers, they rarely owned expensive gear. Why would they need to? But now that market has shrunk. Studios have closed, recording budgets have been decimated, professionals have been laid off.  We, yes us home and project studio owners, us happy band of amateurs, we are their primary market!

Ever wondered why all the manufacturers marketing emails and social media posts are published on a Friday afternoon and how all those busy, successful and in-demand professionals find the time to promote gear?

Time was you never saw a UA compressor or API mic pre in a home studio. Now they're everywhere.

But we digress. Our primary rant this week was supposed to be about all those meaningless terms that marketing folk use to describe their gear.

Now we're fine with "transparent". We know what that means, what goes in comes out. But what about "creamy"? Seriously, do we agree on what "creamy" sounds like? And is "creamy" good?

A nice pre amp and some, err .. cream

How about "warm"? It seems an audio device is better if it produces a "warm" sound! Anyone care to define this? because we're at a loss. And why is "warm" always better?  Were Kraftwerk concerned with "warm"?

Here's another, "silky". Apparently a mic-pre can be silky. Someone please, define this in terms of frequency response or some other technical description! (Don't even get us started on "air"!).

We guess all we're saying here is, keep your guard up, try before you buy, and remember that it's the creative decisions we make, not the gear we use, that determines the 'quality' of our productions.

Thanks for watching and reading
FairFax

The 8-slot API 500 lunchbox and the D-sub 25 connector

Cheaper than their 6-slot option, the API 8-slot 500 series lunchbox is a very good buy, making it even easier for home studio owners to join the 500 series bandwagon. But why is it cheaper? There are two reasons ..

1. Firstly it uses an external PSU power brick. Inconvenient if portability is your primary concern but no problem when installed in a studio. 

2. The second reason is that instead of using XLR connectors, all sixteen audio connections are on two d-sub 25 connectors (8 balanced connections per d-sub connector).

The API 6-slot lunchbox (bottom) with built-in PSU and XLR connectors
and the more affordable 8-slot version (top) with external PSU brick and D-sub 25 connectors

If you've shied away from this type of connector in the past, now might be the time to dip your toes in the water. Their compact size, affordability (yes, quality XLRs are expensive) and increasing popularity with hardware manufacturers are three compelling reasons to learn both how they work, and how to wire them and make your own looms. Providing your soldering is up to scratch, audio quality will be identical to using XLRs. Perhaps even superior if the d-sub connectors you buy have screw locking connectors.

Sure, you can purchase d-sub 25 to XLR looms but they are expensive, and if you plan to wire your API lunchbox to a patchbay you will want bare wires instead of XLRs at one end of the loom, and a cable length that is right for your needs. The solution is to buy two d-sub connectors, a length of 16-way balanced multicore, and get soldering.

RS sell an excellent quality connector which you can find here .. http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/d-sub-connector-kits/7659508/

Studiospares sell an excellent 16-way balanced multicore cable .. https://www.studiospares.com/Cables-Leads/Cable-Multicore/Sommer-Mistral-MCF16-16-Way-Multicore-Cable_546340.htm

Yamaha and Tascam adopted the d-sub 25 pin connector in the 1980's for multi-channel interconnection between digital recorders and mixers but chose to specify different wiring schemes (so called pin-outs). Fortunately for us, today most manufactures use the Tascam pin-out arrangement.

In the Tascam pin-out only 1 of the 25 pins is left unconnected (pin 13), so each audio channel has ground, live and return (3 X 8 =24). This means full professional balanced connections for 8 channels of analogue or AES3 digital.

Tascam D-sub 25 8 channel pin-out (G=ground, C=cold, H=hot)

Soldering a d-sub is fiddly, but once you figure out the correct lengths to strip and tin your cable cores, you'll quickly get the hang of it. It goes without saying that you should use multicore cable with numbers clearly printed on the insulation.

So the message is, don't be put-off by D-sub connections on gear, if you can solder, you can solder a D-sub!

Thanks for watching and reading.

FairFax 

It's not just about the music ..

Experimentation in music production is great. It produces new ideas and possibilities and takes us in directions we hadn't thought of before. If musicians can improvise to create happy accidents and discover new progressions and riffs, then so can we.

But how often do we remember to do this? Sometimes we try new ideas out when producing or mixing, but mostly we just reach for plug-ins and settings that have worked before. It isn't always the best time to experiment.

How often has someone told us that us recording enthusiasts should stop obsessing about our gear and start making music. Sure we love music, but we also get a thrill out of a superb reverb algorithm or a beautifully designed filter.

In fact, here at PSHB we can spend hours just fiddling around with a compressor, EQ device or time domain effect. No music gets recorded but it's just as enjoyable. One of our colleagues has never made a finished LP, but he still spends most days in his studio. He JUST LOVES SOUND!

We think it's good to experiment when we are NOT working on a production. Try opening up a favourite reverb plug-in, or patch in that old hardware unit, and experiment with settings and effects. We can easily while away several hours messing around with a Drawmer DS201 (there's loads going cheap 2nd hand!), a delay, and a simple synth plug-in.

Today we are messing around with a beloved Yamaha REV500 and an old Korg SD1000. Who knows, we might just discover an effect that inspires a whole new musical genre! Or we might just go to bed at the end of the day with nothing more than a smile on our face.

Thanks for watching and reading
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Why is learning sound recording theory important?

We know how it can be. Books, web articles and videos full of explanations and diagrams that make our brains hurt! And all we want to do is make some music. What has technical theory go to do with the creative process?

It's true, we can open Logic or Reason and start to make "professional" sounding music without any underlying understanding of what terminology  and control labels such as 7kHz, LFO, Phase Reverse or Modulation Width actually mean.

No, you don't need any kind of theory knowledge to make some kind of music. What you need it for is in order to achieve PREDICTABLE results.

Professional sound recording engineers earn their money by knowing how to get predictable results. Most of their activities involve being able to realise someone else ideas. A client wants a synth patch edited so that it has a duller sound during the transient. Do we know which control to reach for? Perhaps they want automatic zero crossing point detection disabled as a feature of some sound in their glitch track? Do we know what a zero crossing point is? What about increasing the pitch modulation range of a flange effect? Is that Modulation Frequency, or Intensity, or maybe Width?

Some times we want to experiment and add some randomness when designing sounds. We all love a happy accident and are quick to claim authorship of a lucky break! It's important to try new things, break the rules and go against the grain.

But without theory knowledge, a lot more tasks become frustrating. At worst we can't achieve what we want, and at best our creative flow is interrupted.

If we are serious about creating the best recordings we can, and want to realise the sonic effects we imagine, why wouldn't we take the time to learn the theory? Musicians spend years practicing their instruments, arrangers spend years learning to read and write music.

Learning sound recording theory can only ever be empowering, liberating and yes dammit eye-opening and awe inspiring! (There, we've said it!).

Thanks for reading and watching
FairFax

Good distortion

An old studio manager we used to know was fond of saying "I think we all know what good sounds like" at his morning team meets. Good was happy paying clients leaving with low noise and low distortion master tapes. The only welcome distortion was that produced by guitar amps and the occasional special effect. We didn't regard tape saturation/distortion as desirable and longed for transparent mixing desks and mic pre-amps.

How times have changed! It seems when we couldn't have transparency we longed for it, and now we have it .. well .. it's just too clean isn't it!

For music fans growing up in the 1970s, distortion was a big feature of cheap record decks (expensive decks weren't much better) and poor quality AM radio. We hated it because it came between us and the music. Sound engineers and listeners waged a constant battle against unwanted distortion.

Today 24-bit digital audio and DAWs have marginalised distortion and given us tools to add it only where required.

It's worth remembering that audio distortion may be defined as any change to a signal caused by a device, so even the most welcome "warming" of a signal as it passes through a much loved pre-amp transformer is distortion too.

For the most part we choose to add distortion to a pristine audio for the same reason film makers colour grade film. We want to exaggerate reality to create maximum impact. Although the jury is out on how well plug-ins can achieve this, we are fortunate to live in a time when so many hardware manufacturers are producing superb pieces of outboard to colour our audio.

The API 500 lunchbox format is a great way to add such devices to you setup and this week we have been experimenting with three devices.

We mentioned the DIYRE Color Palette in our Christmas blog post and have since taken our own advice and built one together with 3 Color modules. With 3 flavours of saturation/distortion to play with we are deeply impressed with all Peterson Goodwyn and his team have achieved. Brilliant concept and execution.

We are also currently building a Sound Skulptor EQ573, a design celebrated for its non-linear musicality.

And finally, a Looptrotter Emperor 500 is on its way. This is a hybrid saturation/compression/distortion device that we can't wait to try.

We can now say with confidence that we know what good distortion sounds like. It's the distortion we choose.

Thanks for reading and watching

FairFax

Are MP3s really that bad?

There is a widely held view in sound recording circles that the MP3 format is responsible for degrading the quality of the listener's musical experience. Vocal critics include Neil Young and George Massenburg. They maintain that MP3s are unlistenable. But is the format really that bad?

Initially developed to overcome storage and network distribution limitations in the early years of the world wide web, many feel that it is no longer needed and that modern technologies such as FlashRam and broadband permit fun bandwidth uncompressed audio.

It is true that if you study the theory of how the MP3 codec works it looks like bad news for audio quality, but before we jump to the conclusion that that format should be abandoned here are a few points that we might want to consider when deciding how our recordings should be published and delivered to a listener.

1. Many critics refer to the MP3 format without qualifying data rate. There is a vast quality difference between 320kbps (the upper limit) and 128kbps, and no-one would seriously argue that 64kbps should be compared to even CD quality. If we are going to compare MP3 with other formats, lets agree to use 320kbps.

2. When was the last time we made a comparison for ourselves? Do it now. Grab a favourite CD, rip an MP3 version at 320kbps and a do a blind test comparison, preferably with family or friends. You may be surprised at how difficult it is to identify differences.

3. Now try the same comparison in your car and using a mobile phone with ear-buds. This is how most people experience music.

4. When was the last time you saw a hi-spec hi-fi system in a friends home (no not other audio enthusiasts! just regular folk who like music). Back in the 60's, 70's and 80's you saw hi-fi separate systems everywhere. Now most folks use their PCs, TVs or mini systems. Will they hear a difference?

5. With the increasing popularity of vinyl, many music fans are looking for a different way to experience music recordings. No one could argue that vinyl can faithfully reproduce the sound of a studio mix master yet many of us still love that distorted analogue sound. How come that's a good fashionable thing?

6. Maybe it's because we don't regard an MP3 file as aesthetically "valuable" as a physical fixation like tape, vinyl or CD.  It doesn't resonate culturally. We can't define ourselves with a MP3 collection the way we can with a record collection. MP3s are much less visible!

7. Has the sheer convenience of MP3 devalued them? It takes dedication to maintain a physical music collection doesn't it?

At Project Studio Handbook we have no clear opinions on this debate. Most of us record at 44.1kHz / 24-bit and master for MP3. Some of us burn CDs to listen to at home and in the car. In our studios we listen to the mix masters. What do you do and what are your thoughts on this subject? It would be great to hear them.

Thanks for watching and reading
FairFax

Guitar amp and cab switching

Another year slips anchor (happy new year to you) and despite a glitch that prevented us publishing a video in Dec (the flu since you asked), we are back in the saddle and our Microphone Electronics video is imminent. 

We posted before about the advantages of using multiple guitar heads and a single cab to maximise the limited space we all have in our home studios, but the arrival of new Blackstar and Marshall heads at our regular filming studio, to augment existing Hughes & Kettner and Fender devices, presented the owner with a new problem, compounded by the fact that the 4 heads are all valve powered. 

As the guitarists among us will know, valve amps need to be powered up 15 minutes before use to ensure they reach optimum temperature, but they must also be connected to a load, either a speaker cab or power soak device to prevent damage to the power amp. (An exception is those that have a "silent recording" line out that still operates when the amp is in standby mode with the pre-amp active and the power amp disabled).

Thus, switching quickly between heads becomes problematic. Moving the cab/speaker lead between amps is a minor inconvenience but waiting for amps to heat up spoils any chance of meaningful comparisons when searching for a sound, and definitely interrupts the creative flow.

What is required is a multiple amp power soak device that interconnects amps and cabs and presents a safe load to any amp not currently connected to a cab. There are a couple of well known solutions available for switching between a couple of amps and cabs, but no comprehensive solutions.

That is until one of our team spotted a device being used by a well known guitarist and YouTuber. The Kahayan 4x4 and 8x4 Selectors allow you to connect up to 4 cabs and 8 amps and switch between any combination safely. The company are based in Spain and although they don't appear to have distribution to all territories, there are contact email addresses on their website.

The prospect of being able to swap instantly between different amps when looking for the perfect tone for a song is mouth watering to some of us (particularly those of us who make an involuntary sound whenever we get up and down or have to reach around the back of equipment!).

If anyone is already using one of these devices, please share your experiences. Meanwhile with Christmas still burning a hole in our pockets, many of us may have to wait for the next birthday!

Thanks for watching and reading.

FairFax