AWS 948 used for music and film productions

KRISTIANSAND, NORWAY – Sanden Studio, a division of Sanden Media, a company that offers everything from film and music production to CD/DVD replication services, recently installed a Solid State Logic AWS 948 SuperAnalogue™ Console/Integrated Controller as a major upgrade for Studio A. The studio, located in Kristiansand, Norway, replaced an Avid C24 controller with the AWS 948 to take advantage of the console’s combination signature SuperAnalogue™ sound quality and DAW control to streamline production workflow. more

Singapore – December 2011… As part of MediaCorp Radio’s 75th anniversary, more than 25 local acts took to the stage at Marina Promontory on Saturday, November 5th for better than 8 hours of non-stop music. MediaCorp—Singapore’s leading media company—hosted the MeRadio Rocks The Marina! project—a celebratory concert where great music and friendship all came together. With a capacity of roughly 5,000 people, the Promontory was rockin’. And to ensure great sound that everyone could enjoy, a top-flight sound reinforcement system consisting of loudspeakers from the Aero Series 2, Avant, and Road catalogs of Valencia, Spain-based D.A.S. Audio was placed into service. more

Award-winning Artist’s New “Journeys” Album of Flute Concertos Mastered in San Francisco

San Francisco, CA – December 1, 2011 – Mastering Engineer Michael Romanowski recently completed the CD master for award-winning artist Laurel Zucker‘s new “Journeys” release. The album of Zucker’s original flute concertos was produced by Laurel Zucker and long-time Bay Area recording engineer and producer Leslie Ann Jones and recorded at Skywalker Sound in Marin County, CA. Ms. Jones brought the project to Romanowski’s San Francisco mastering studio and listened back on the studio’s Focal Grand Utopia speakers making final adjustments for the master of Zucker’s flute performances. Ms. Jones is currently mastering several projects with Romanowski at his SF studio. more

BUENA PARK, Calif.—As part of the American Express UNSTAGED series of webcast concerts (via Vevo and YouTube), Mary J. Blige performed her breakthrough 1994 album My Life, followed by selections from its sequel out November 21st, My Life II … The Journey Continues (Act 1) featuring a collaboration with Nas on ‘Feel Inside’ at the Club Nokia in Los Angeles.

Le Mobile’s Guy Charbonneau brought his specialized Le Fly-Pak system to record the UNSTAGED concert live. A Yamaha DM2000 was integrated into the Le Fly-Pak system for the purpose of mixing the live performance. “The Club Nokia is pre-wired with fiber tie lines that connect to the AEG offices,” states Charbonneau. “The Yamaha DM2000 had been setup in an adjacent AEG office that was temporarily converted into a control room. The remote control room made mixing the live performance possible.” The performance was broadcast simultaneously on YouTube and Vevo capturing over 1.4 million viewers.

Charbonneau said the entire show was recorded in pristine form through the use of Madi/fiber lines, connected to the Yamaha DM2000 and to Le Mobile’s on stage Fly-Pak. “Le Fly-Pak systems interconnect both cleanly and swiftly to the DM2000 especially with the addition of the Yamaha MADI cards, which add an additional 64 channels using Fiber or Coax cable.”

The Le Fly-Pak System is one of the most versatile, complete, high-end systems on the market today. Contained in 8 road cases, it offers great flexibility for recording projects, records, audio for live concert DVD, television, and broadcasts. The system consists of 64 channels of microphone preamps (48 channels of Grace Design 801 and 16 channels Millennia HV-3D), ProTools HD, Apogee Converters, Apogee Big Ben, RME ADI 648 MADI converter, a video sync and time code generator for video interface, full 64-tracks of redundant hard disk recording system, and JBL LSR monitors. Le Mobile can also of integrate one of Le Mobile’s Studer 24-track analog A-800s into the plug and play system.

For more information on Le Fly-Pak, visit www.lemobile.com.

For more information on the Yamaha DM2000, visit www.yamahaca.com.

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PHOTO ID: LeMobile’s Guy Charbonneau

About Yamaha Commercial Audio Systems, Inc.:
Yamaha Commercial Audio Systems, Inc. (YCAS) provides a full line of integrated professional audio products offering complete systems solutions for the broadcast, sound reinforcement/installed sound, touring, commercial recording, and post production markets. The company remains the official U.S. and Canadian distributor for all NEXO speaker products. YCAS offers comprehensive in-house and field product training for its customers, a dedicated dealer network, and 24/7 technical support.

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Martin Mills, the founder and chairman of Beggars Group, has been named by the Music Producers Guild as the 2012 recipient of its Outstanding Contribution to UK Music Award.

The award will be presented to Martin Mills at the MPG 2012 Awards, which take place on February 16th next year at the Café de Paris in London.

Steve Levine, chairman of MPG, says: “The Outstanding Contribution Award acknowledges those who have made a significant contribution over a long period of time to the success of the UK music recording industry. This may be a producer or engineer, but it can equally be a manager, an A&R person or even a great artist.

“We have chosen Martin as our 2012 recipient because he has always adopted the philosophy of putting artists first. Artists signed to Beggars Group are given the time and freedom to develop and are supported every step of the way. In our industry it is rare to find a record company chairman who is so determined to release quality music that he is prepared to put creativity above profits, and for this reason we applaud him.”

As Europe’s largest independent record label network, Beggars Group has its roots in the Beggars Banquet record shop, which Martin Mills founded in 1973 in London’s Earls Court. When the punk movement erupted in 1976, the shop became a mecca for aspiring anarchists and Mills was soon approached by punk band The Lurkers to release their first single. He rose to the challenge and within weeks the single was No. 31 in the charts.

Over subsequent years, Mills signed more bands and released more music, helping to kick start the careers of numerous artists including Gary Numan, The Fall, The Cult and the Charlatans.

Over the years the company developed its structure to become an umbrella group of record labels. These now include the iconic indie label 4AD, which it owns outright, and Matador, Rough Trade and XL Recordings, in which it has a 50% stake. Artists represented by those labels now include Adele, Vampire Weekend, Pixies, Bon Iver, Cat Power and Antony and the Johnsons.

Martin Mills happily admits that he has no formal business training and maintains that he runs the Beggars Group on ‘gut feeling and instinct’ rather than any kind of formal procedure. His labels have the autonomy to sign their own artists, but he personally signs every cheque and every contract.

Alongside his role as Beggars Group chairman, Mills is a director of both UK and European independent music bodies AIM and IMPALA, a founding member of similar US and Worldwide organisations A2IM and WIN, a director of Merlin and PPL and a former director of VPL and BPI. He has also been part of the Government Music Industry Forum and chaired ‘Consumers Call The Tune’, the Department of Culture’s report into the Digital Music Industry.

As sponsors of the MPG Outstanding Contribution to UK Music Award, industry organisation PPL says it is delighted that Martin Mills has been chosen as the 2012 recipient.

Fran Nevrkla Chairman and CEO, PPL said, “Having known Martin and having worked closely with him for over 30 years, I cannot think of a more worthy recipient of the Outstanding Contribution to UK Music Award. His passion for the industry and especially for music and all things creative is legendary which is demonstrated by his phenomenal success over the last three decades. His personal integrity is also beyond reproach and it is hardly surprising that he commands so much respect and has become one of the most highly regarded and influential music industry figures. I offer my sincere congratulations and compliments to Martin on behalf of all of us at PPL and VPL and indeed on behalf of all his friends and colleagues everywhere.”

The Music Producers Guild Awards are now in their fourth year and are firmly established as a must-attend industry event. Last year’s Awards attracted more than 300 stars and music industry VIPs who turned out in force to celebrate the enormous contribution that recording professionals make to the success of the UK’s music industry. In 2012, the MPG is once again collaborating with the BRITS to present the winner of its Producer of the Year category with a BRIT Award for Best Producer.

Sponsorship opportunities are still available for this event and any company that would like to play a part should contact Sadie Groom at Bubble & Squeak. Telephone: +44 (0) 01442 877 850. Email: sadie@bubblesqueak.co.uk.

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About Music Producers Guild (UK):

The Music Producers Guild was conceived and is supported by producers and engineers who are passionate about all aspects of making and recording music. It is a not for profit company and is run by volunteers from the membership. Formed as a Guild rather than a Trade Association, MPG has no party political agenda, but does represent the professional recording community to Government and actively engages with other music industry organisations, to develop a dialogue about and exert an influence on matters of mutual interest and benefit to its members and its industry. The achievements of this creative community are celebrated each year through the MPG Awards event. www.mpg.org.uk

The recent addition of the new Thunderbolt I/O connection to Apple Mac computers means data can be transferred faster than ever – 10Gbps of bidirectional throughput plus a separate display bus.

Lightning fast speed and huge bandwidth has meant Thunderbolt can accommodate nearly any existing connection to a variety of external devices with the necessary adapter, including Prism Sound FireWire audio interfaces Orpheus and ADA-8XR.

After extensive testing on the latest Mac OS X Lion 10.7.2 operating system the Sonnet Thunderbolt Adapter passed with flying colours and will allow Prism Sound FireWire interface users to maintain the same software control and functionality they are currently benefiting from through the FireWire 800 and 400 connection.

Any Apple Mac sporting the new Thunderbolt connection (currently the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac and Mac Mini) will be able to connect to our Orpheus and FireWire ADA-8XR including the latest Mac Book Airs, which was previously lacking any connection above USB 2.0 speed.

MacBook Pro, iMac and Mac Mini users will benefit from an extra bus through the Thunderbolt connection meaning external Hard Drives and other FireWire devices can be used simultaneously with the Prism Sound Orpheus and ADA-8XR FireWire interfaces.

FireWire, Thunderbolt and the development of standalone software means native audio production has never been more popular providing the perfect solution for users requiring the freedom of flexibility between hardware and software combinations, expandability through cascading multiple units and devices via the convenience of a single connection.

For more information about Prism Sound’s professional audio solutions, please visit www.prismsound.com

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About Prism Sound
Founded in 1987, Prism Sound manufacture high-quality professional digital audio equipment for the International broadcast, film, music production, manufacturing and telecommunications sectors. The company’s product range includes the Prism ADA-8XR precision 8-channel converter unit, which is regularly used for music and film soundtrack projects by clients such as EMI Abbey Road, BBC, Sony, Lucasfilm and Walt Disney. Prism Sound also manufactures a range of audio test and measurement products, including the de facto standard DSA-1 handheld digital audio generator/analyser and the dScope Series III audio analyser system.

For more information: www.prismsound.com

The analogue recording technology that was prevalent in the late 1960s gave the music of that era a very specific sound, which is difficult to recreate in today’s digital age.

However, this was the challenge producer Steve Levine faced when he was asked to record a project for music publisher Audio Network that evoked the vibe of soul music of the 1960s.

“Very often film and television production companies, when sourcing music for picture, may not want to use actual songs because they are trying to create an atmosphere rather than have people evoke their own memories,” Steve Levine explains. “Many of those 1960s songs are so well known that it’s hard to watch a scene objectively.”

Working with Audio Network composer Terry Devine-King, Levine set up a recording session in Toe Rag Studios, London, where studio owner Liam Watson has a wealth of vintage analogue equipment, including a classic EMI Red desk. He used a vintage Studer A80 8-track tape machine to record the backing tracks onto one inch tape and transferred them to Logic via a Prism Sound Orpheus. Further overdubs at Toe Rag via the Orpheus were blended with analogue 1” recordings. The material was then taken back to Levine’s own studio, Manmade Soul, so that he could work on lead vocals, final overdubs and the mix.

“It took all my skill and knowledge of vintage and modern production techniques to capture the right sound,” Levin says. “I wanted to preserve the integrity of the sound captured on tape, which is why I chose to use an Orpheus. The Prism Sound interface was patched directly from the back of the tape machine. This worked really well because it is completely transparent and what I was transferring sounded exactly as it did on tape, with no further coloration.”

Levine adds that the session was all about combining microphone placement with the sonic qualities of the tape, the desk and the vintage analogue outboard gear.

“These days one inch tape is expensive so after recording the backing tracks we overdubbed the brass and strings using modern Audio Technica ribbon microphones fed straight through Orpheus and into Logic. This worked really well and allowed us to combine the sound of analogue with the very best that today’s recording technology has to offer. We actually managed to complete the entire project using just three reels of tape.”

Levine, meanwhile, is putting his Prism Sound Orpheus to good use on a number of other projects. One of these involved a masterclass at Buckinghamshire University, where he gave students a practical demonstration in sound recording and mixing techniques.

“The students recorded my new signing, Daytona Lights, in a nearby church hall and I recorded them at a smaller gig. I then took the multitrack files back to the university’s studio to tidy it up and mix it,” he says. “I gave them a few tips and showed them some tricks you can do. It’s always good to have equipment of this caliber on hand when you are recording live sound – and it’s nice to be able to introduce the next generation of sound engineers and producers to the best tools on the market.”

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About Prism Sound
Founded in 1987, Prism Sound manufacture high-quality professional digital audio equipment for the International broadcast, film, music production, manufacturing and telecommunications sectors. The company’s product range includes the Prism ADA-8XR precision 8-channel converter unit, which is regularly used for music and film soundtrack projects by clients such as EMI Abbey Road, BBC, Sony, Lucasfilm and Walt Disney. Prism Sound also manufactures a range of audio test and measurement products, including the de facto standard DSA-1 handheld digital audio generator/analyser and the dScope Series III audio analyser system.

For more information: www.prismsound.com

Bristol, VA – November 2011… For most of us, our days in high school are generally memorable—thanks to varied academic and extra-curricular activities that, ultimately, help shape our personalities. For the students at Bristol High School, however, memories of the plays, concerts, debates, and other events tended to hit a sour note because of a woefully inadequate sound reinforcement system in the school’s auditorium. Recognizing the shortcomings of the system and its negative impact on every event that took place there, school administrators decided to act. As the new academic year commences, the Bristol High community will hear a dramatic difference now that a new sound system drawn from the catalog of Greensboro, NC-based WorxAudio Technologies is in place. more