Distributed in 94 countries, Mix is the world's leading magazine for the professional recording and sound production technology industry. Mix covers a wide range of topics including: recording, live sound and production, broadcast production, audio for film and video, and music technology.
City Confers Green Status On Professional Services Firm
San Francisco – October 20, 2009 — Though “green” seems to be the latest gimmick for some, many companies are adopting sustainable practices not only for the common good, but also to make themselves more competitive. Today, Seneschal, a professional services organization serving media manufacturers and content creators worldwide, announced their formal recognition as a San Francisco Green Business by the City of San Francisco Department of the Environment.
Long term retention of digital content is a big driver of storage growth in the medical, legal and entertainment industries, but without careful planning, energy consumption can rise dramatically due to increased HVAC and electrical loads. Seneschal focuses on the digital content space, working with clients to specify, design, and implement efficient, high reliability storage and management infrastructures.
As a Bay Area–based professional services provider catering to a wide range more
Company Set to Launch, Demo & Preview New Professional Solutions
New York – October 9, 2009 — Back in Manhattan, the audio community will gather at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center for this fall’s 127th Audio Engineering Society Convention. Sonic Studio, LLC will be there, launching new products, demonstrating new releases, and providing a glimpse at future technologies of interest.
The company will stage the first public showing of several new items. A brief look at the convention highlights include:
• the release of the new PreMaster CD™ 3.1.2
• the release of the new soundBlade™ 1.3.5
• previews of the new Amarra™ Computer Music Player 1.1
• previews of the new secureDDP™ 1.1
• an on–site event in conjunction with Airshow Mastering
• on–site demonstrations of current software, Series 300™ hardware & future product releases
During the convention, Sonic Studio will be exhibiting more
Company Set to Launch, Demo & Preview New Professional Solutions
München – May 8, 2009 — After a seven year hiatus, the audio community will converge on Munich’s M,O,C, Event Center for this year’s 126th Audio Engineering Society Convention. Sonic Studio, LLC will be there, launching new products, demonstrating current wares, and providing a glimpse at future technologies of note.
The company will stage the first public showing of several new items. A brief look at the convention highlights include:
• a preview of the new, secureDDP™ application
• the release of the new Amarra™ Computer Music Player
• the release of the new version of Quartet DynPEQ™
• the announcement of a new bundle for DSD production
• on–site demonstrations of new & current products including the latest versions of PreMaster CD™ and soundBlade™
A significant new product will be previewed at the show, a software utility for audio engineers and record labels. secureDDP is an application for Mac OS that encrypts existing DDP file sets which can then be safely and securely delivered over public computer networks. secureDDP supports DDP file sets from SADiE, Eclipse, DCA and Merging, as well as from Sonic Studio’s own product lines. It features 128 bit encryption and fail–safe operation to ensure that encrypted DDPs arrive unaltered and uncracked. Mastering houses seeking electronic delivery of client approvals and replication masters now have a simple and secure mechanism. Also with secureDDP, record labels seeking to sell high resolution music on–line can now distribute entire albums in a trustworthy and bit–perfect form. secureDDP will be available through Sonic Studio’s eStore starting on June 15th.
Amarra, a turnkey system for easy computer playback of high resolution files, will be shown publicly for the first time since its release. The Amarra Computer Music Player combines the precision of the SSE (Sonic Studio Engine) with the power of Sonic Studio hardware and easy operation of iTunes. Amarra establishes a new paradigm for ultra–fidelity home entertainment. Sonic Studio will be demonstrating Amarra with their Model Four DAC, as well as with Swiss partner Weiss Engineering Ltd.’s FireWire Audio Interfaces.
During the convention, Sonic Studio will be exhibiting new updates to several products. Version 3.0.3 of PreMaster CD now offers DDP File Open, the option to load back and modify existing DDP file sets, at a new lower price. soundBlade 1.3.3 will also be on demo, with the eight channel capability included as standard. Demos of the upcoming version 2 of soundBlade will highlight its expanded multichannel capabilities. Also for soundBlade, version 1.1 of Wholegrain Digital System’s Quartet DynPEQ dynamic energy shaping plug–in will be available for evaluation.
With the addition of low cost, DSD–native recorders to the audio engineer’s toolkit, there has not been a professional and low cost solution to the problem of DSD to PCM conversion and distribution. In response to that need, Sonic Studio is now offering a new bundle. DSD Converter™, an option for PreMaster CD, is a bidirectional transcoder that converts both DSD and LPCM data. DSD Converter is now available as a package with PreMaster CD, saving hundreds while offering a simplified PCM workflow that preserves all the nuance of original DSD recordings.
To learn more about any of the items mentioned and to book a personal demo, visit stand 2013 in the M,O,C, from May 8th through the 10th, call them at 1-415-460-1201, or e–mail Sonic Studio at .
About Sonic Studio
Sonic Studio, LLC is the premier manufacturer of ultra–fidelity PCM and DSD content creation and home entertainment systems. Sonic Studio’s Emmy award–winning NoNOISE II suite is the leading audio restoration toolset for archivists, record labels, videographers and forensic investigators while their product lines for Red and Scarlet Book premastering define the state of the art. Sonic Studio’s eleventh generation digital audio workstations and software are in use at major studios, record labels, broadcast and post production facilities worldwide. Based in Marin County, California, Sonic Studio has an international network of distributors and channel partners who share their commitment to quality and service.
secureDDP, Amarra, SSE, Sonic Studio Engine, DSD Converter, soundBlade, PreMaster CD, Sonic Console, Series 300, Model Four and sonicstudio.com and the Sonic Studio logo and type are trademarks of Sonic Studio, LLC in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks, trade names, service marks, and logos referenced herein belong to their respective companies.
Wimberley, Texas - February 25, 2009 — Burgin McDaniel Design, a Texas manufacturer of boutique analog audio gear, is pleased to announce a partnership with freelance hardware designer Drake D. Williams. Williams’ most recent position was with Rupert Neve Designs, where he was responsible for hardware formulation on a variety of products, from Legendary Audio’s Masterpiece to the acclaimed 5008 console and the entire Portico range thru to the Fidelis concept prototype.
Williams, a man of few words, says “I’m a hardware designer, some folks think I’m a damn good one too.” Kevin Burgin, co–owner of Burgin McDaniel Design, elaborates. “Drake and I were two of the three founding members of RND so, to be able to work with him again is quite an honor. Reunited with our old partner, we will be able to continue our mission, supplying the industry with beautifully designed products, both for functionality and sonic quality, in a timely and professional manner.”
Travis McDaniel, the better looking half of Burgin McDaniel Design, adds that “Kevin and Drake work great together. Kevin comes up with the ideas. He thinks something up, and I build a prototype then give Drake the schematic.” Williams takes up the story, “I’ll lay out the board and design the piece…We all pay close attention to quality and sound, only the best will do.” With Williams’ help, Burgin McDaniel is answering the call for a new product that will be released in 2009 and distributed exclusively by Atlas Pro Audio.
About Burgin McDaniel Design
Burgin McDaniel Design (BMD) is a boutique manufacturer of analog audio products for engineers and musicians. BMD–badged lines are notable for their exceptional build quality and superior sonic performance. Their designs are seen on stage and in some of the world’s most prestigious pro audio products. Based in the pro audio hamlet of Wimberley Texas, Burgin McDaniel Design is dedicated to best in class solutions for their customers. More information is available on the web at BurginMcDaniel dot com.
About Drake D. Williams
Drake Williams lives and works near Wimberley, in the beautiful Hill Country of Texas. For professional design services, contact him at drakedwilliams at yahoo dot com.
Wimberley, TX — Atlas Pro Audio, a retailer, distributor, and manufacturer of professional audio equipment, has been appointed sole worldwide distributor for Burgin McDaniel Design, a Texas manufacturer of boutique analog audio gear.
Nathan Eldred, CEO of Atlas Pro Audio, stated, “We are looking forward to working very closely with designers Kevin (Burgin) and Travis (McDaniel) and, given their track record, expect some really great things from them.” A following has already developed for their debut product, the Komit, a 500–series compressor/limiter which was released earlier this year.
Kevin Burgin, who heads up Burgin McDaniel Design, said “We all are excited to have Atlas helping us with distribution. Atlas came to us after hearing the buzz and we realized that they’re a perfect match to expand our channel presence. We’ve had a great year and are looking forward to Nathan’s help in making 2009 even better.” In addition to their custom work for studios, musicians and manufacturers, Burgin McDaniel is answering the call for a new product that will be released early in 2009 and distributed exclusively by Atlas Pro Audio.
About Burgin McDaniel Design
Burgin McDaniel Design is a boutique manufacturer of analog audio products for engineers and musicians. Their designs are seen in some of the world’s most prestigious pro audio products and their BMD–badged lines are notable for their exceptional build quality and superior sonic performance. Based in the pro audio hamlet of Wimberley Texas, Burgin McDaniel Design is dedicated to best in class solutions for their customers. More information is available on the web at burginmcdaniel.com.
Pro Audio Company Gives First Public Showing of High End HiFi Product
Denver, CO - October 10, 2008 — Sonic Studio, LLC, in conjunction with their representative VRS Audio Solutions, provided the first public showing of their new ultra–fidelity music server, Amarra. Taking place at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest in the mile high city of Denver, VRS staged demonstrations of the newest member of the growing media server class in their demo room.
Based on Sonic Studio’s legendary line of professional linear PCM products, Amarra is an integrated software and hardware alloy that leverages Sonic Studio’s storied history in pro audio with the industry’s longest running digital audio workstation. Amarra’s hardware is drawn from the exclusive FireWire–attached, Series 300 line of DSP I/O Processors while the software derives from soundBlade, Sonic Studio’s high end production application.
Unlike prior audio server products, Amarra runs on the stable, secure and friendly Macintosh operating system. To ease user interaction, Amarra also coordinates with iTunes, the industry standard for asset acquisition, storage and playback. Able to play uncompressed audio files up to 192 kHz, Amarra is architected to accommodate future enhancements as technology and the server market advances.
Amarra is a whole new concept in music servers. The same technology that produces the master files used by record labels large and small for music distribution on Compact Disc, DVD-Audio and for download, is also used to create a music server that handily bests all others in fidelity, the foundation of any audiophile product. Amarra provides the highest quality playback, coupled with the convenience of iTunes, the world’s most popular music delivery system. Soon to be available through select dealers, more information about Amarra is available at www.amarraaudio.com. For more on Sonic Studio, visit www.sonicstudio.com.
About Sonic Studio
Sonic Studio, LLC is the premier manufacturer of ultra–fidelity PCM and DSD content creation systems. Sonic Studio’s Emmy award–winning NoNOISE II suite is the leading audio restoration toolset for archivists, record labels, videographers and forensic investigators while their product lines for Red and Scarlet Book premastering define the state of the art. Sonic Studio’s digital audio workstations and software are in use at major studios, record labels, broadcast and post production facilities worldwide. Based in Marin County, California, Sonic Studio has an international network of distributors and channel partners who share their commitment to quality and service.
soundBlade, Series 300, amarraaudio.com, sonicstudio.com and the Sonic Studio logo and type are trademarks of Sonic Studio, LLC in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks, trade names, service marks, and logos referenced herein belong to their respective companies.
Company Set to Launch, Demo & Preview New Professional Solutions
Marin County, CA – September 16, 2008 — After a two year hiatus, San Francisco’s Moscone Convention Center will be the renewed focus of all things audio. Sonic Studio, LLC will be there. Sonic Studio will be launching new products, demonstrating current wares, and providing a glimpse at future technologies of note.
The company will stage the first public showing of several new items. A brief look at the convention highlights include:
• the release of the new, low cost NoNOISE FixIt option
• shipment of the new DSD Converter option
• the release of a new version 5 of Sonic Console
• on–site & off–site demonstrations of new & current products including the latest versions of PreMaster CD, soundBlade and the new v5 Console for Series 300 I/O Processors with 2d DSP expansion
• technology demonstrations of partner hardware & software products
A significant new product will be released, a restoration option exclusively for soundBlade™ and PreMaster CD™. NoNOISE FixIt™ combines elements of Manual DeClick™, Manual DeCrackle™, Broadband DeNoise™ and Sonic EQ™, all in a single, low cost bundle. Unlike other inexpensive restoration tools on the market, FixIt uses the same high fidelity NoNOISE II engine found in each stand–alone option, while providing a simplified user interface and entry level price. NoNOISE FixIt enables any studio, large or small, to add high quality restoration to their service mix.
With the addition of low cost, DSD–native recorders to the audio engineer’s toolkit, there has not been a professional yet cost effective solution to the problem of DSD to PCM conversion and distribution. In response to that need, Sonic Studio is shipping a new option, DSD Converter™, for soundBlade and PreMaster CD. This bidirectional processor converts either DSD or LPCM data in the background, preserving all the nuance of the original recording.
For customers who own Sonic Studio’s exclusive Series 300™ line of DSP I/O processors, a new, radically improved Sonic Console is available. Taking full advantage of Metric Halo’s 2d hardware capabilities, the v5 Console boasts a new user interface with simplified routing and factory templates for common tasks, plus new +DSP modules for reverberation and Character. Borrowing the euphonic distortion found in “classic” analog gear, Character integrates many flavors of tasty distortion directly into the Series 300 hardware. Every channel in a 2d mixer, including all bus masters, has a wide range of tube, transformer and FET Characters available.
As part of Sonic Studio’s presence at the show, they will be holding demonstrations of their products at a great local facility near Moscone. To learn more about any of the items mentioned and book a personal demo, stop by booth 1339 in the Moscone Center from October 2nd through the 5th, call them at 1-415-460-1201, or visit Sonic Studio on the web.
About Sonic Studio
Sonic Studio, LLC is the premier manufacturer of ultra–fidelity PCM and DSD content creation systems. Sonic Studio’s Emmy award–winning NoNOISE II suite is the leading audio restoration toolset for archivists, record labels, videographers and forensic investigators while their product lines for Red and Scarlet Book premastering define the state of the art. Sonic Studio’s digital audio workstations and software are in use at major studios, record labels, broadcast and post production facilities worldwide. Based in Marin County, California, Sonic Studio has an international network of distributors and channel partners who share their commitment to quality and service.
soundBlade, PreMaster CD, Series 300, NoNOISE II, NoNOISE FixIt, Manual DeClick, Manual DeCrackle, Broadband DeNoise, Sonic EQ, sonicstudio.com and the Sonic Studio logo and type are trademarks of Sonic Studio, LLC in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks, trade names, service marks, and logos referenced herein belong to their respective companies.
Boulder, CO - July 3, 2008 — Wholegrain Digital Systems LLC, manufacturer of speciality audio software, has announced the availability of Quartet DynPEQ™, a signal processing plug–in for the soundBlade digital audio workstation. Quartet is the first product that applies Wholegrain’s proprietary DynPEQ™ technology.
Audio professionals and enthusiasts alike are familiar with dynamics processors and parametric equalizers. Dynamic parametric equalization, or DynPEQ, is an integrated alliance of these two signal processing blocks. DynPEQ can perform as either a broadband dynamics processor or as a standalone equalizer, but can also apply the functionality of one to the other. Quartet’s multi–band dynamics processor settings can be configured to operate on a particular parametric band instead of the entire audio spectrum.
Quartet DynPEQ is designed especially for the task of digital audio mastering. Quartet contains four individually configurable DynPEQ bands, and a special gain stage. Wholegrain has designed the dynamics processing element of Quartet to minimize audible artifacts, which allows Quartet to render its dynamics with a high degree of transparency. To assist in fine-tuning the sound, each DynPEQ band can be individually bypassed. An adjustable, low frequency blocking filter operates on the input to avoid headroom–robbing DC offset. A limiter processes the combined output of the four DynPEQ bands, which employs extrapolation of analog peaks from the digital signal. The maximum peak is registered in real-time to assist in the detailed management of peak levels.
Few audio geeks are as busy or accomplished as George Massenburg. As the inventor of parametric EQ, his engineering, standards setting and product development efforts all garner high praise from the community. With its ability to sculpt the timbre and dynamics of a song, Massenburg values Quartet. “The Quartet DynPEQ is one on a very short list of truly advanced, useful digital processors. I trust Duane (Wise, owner and CTO at Wholegrain) with the most difficult, detailed DSP programming. I don’t know of a better filter guy in the business.”
Quartet’s intuitive and powerful user interface sets it apart from other multi–band dynamics packages. To assist in project workflow and management, Quartet offers a factory library of presets, such as de-ess, de-hum, brightness, and warmth, which can be dragged and dropped onto any band. In addition to A and B registers for quick comparison, Quartet maintains an unlimited set of patch registers for saving and retrieving project settings.
Engineers are often saddled with less than ideal tracks and anemic mixes. Though sometimes “attitude adjustment” is needed to provide more excitement, it’s equally often that the material needs subtle persuasion. Quartet can do both. Multi–award winning mastering engineer David Glasser says of Quartet DynPEQ: “I’ve been beta testing Quartet for over a year. I don’t spend a year on anything unless I think it’s good, and Quartet is very good — a totally unique combination of the highest quality digital EQ with dynamics. I’m not a big plug–in user, but this is one that has brought happy grins to my clients’ faces on several important projects. If you only have one plug-in for soundBlade, it should be this one.”
Quartet DynPEQ is sold through Sonic Studio LLC, the manufacturer of soundBlade. Information on soundBlade and ordering Quartet DynPEQ can be found at www.sonicstudio.com. Prospective users can take full advantage of a temporary trial license of Quartet DynPEQ prior to purchase. For more information on the technology that drives Quartet, please visit www.wholegrain-ds.com.
About Wholegrain Digital Systems LLC
Wholegrain Digital Systems develops new and unusual signal processors for audio applications. Its initial processor is DynPEQ, a complete and intuitive integration of parametric equalization and traditional dynamics processing. Its initial application is Quartet DynPEQ, geared specifically for audio mastering.
DynPEQ, Quartet DynPEQ, and the binary spike device are trademarks of Wholegrain Digital Systems LLC. soundBlade is a trademark of Sonic Studio, LLC.
Distribution of Latest Edition Includes Free Plug–in
Marin County, CA — May 17, 2008 – Sonic Studio, LLC, the leader in ultra–fidelity production tools for audio engineers, has begun shipping version 1.2.2 of their flagship professional product, soundBlade™. Sonic Studio also announced a new, no–cost version of their Sonic EQ™ that accompanies this new release. Both products have entered distribution channels worldwide.
soundBlade continues to answer a busy engineer’s need for a streamlined, ultra–fidelity alternative to other production tools. soundBlade combines ease of use and exceptional value with features that simplify everyday jobs. Running natively on the secure and user friendly Mac OS X, soundBlade relies on Core Audio for default I/O so hardware lock–in is eliminated. The 1.2.2 release incorporates hundreds of optimizations and stability enhancements.
A new twist for Sonic Studio is the release of Sonic EQ le, a free version of their legendary equalization, and a welcome addition to any engineer’s audio toolkit. Sonic EQ le is a proprietary implementation of equalizer that includes three different filter types, including a first order parametric, along with first order high and low shelves. Minimal phase topologies ensure inaudible artifacts even for radical settings. Its double precision operators, when used in soundBlade, provide the transparency that Sonic Studio products are known for. In a departure from previous Sonic EQ releases, Sonic EQ le can also be used with any Mac audio product that hosts VST plug–ins.
Combining Sonic Studio’s benchmark premastering functionality with the signal processing, restoration and comprehensive editing that discriminating mastering engineers are looking for, soundBlade carries an economical MSRP of $1495. A free update for existing owners, it is available now through Sonic Studio’s network of distributors and resellers or as a download from their web site. For m more
Marin County, CA – May 17, 2008 — Sonic Studio, LLC, the leader in ultra–fidelity production tools for audio engineers, announced the release of a completely new version of their low cost premastering application, PreMaster CD™. The 3.0 release provides native support for both Intel and PowerPC hosts.
With essential, high end features that Sonic Studio is known for, PreMaster CD provides key premastering functionality not found in most digital audio workstations. In addition, available options allow savvy engineers to customize the application’s already strong collection of functions based on client need. This new, Universal Binary release consolidates all the maintenance changes incorporated into the code base while improving both ease of use, speed and stability on all Intel and PowerPC Macs.
PreMaster CD opens up a portable treasure chest of expert premastering features, including completely manual, automatic and semi–automatic PQ generation. Sonic Studio’s exclusive Smart Fade Tool and background CD writing, along with easy drag and drop resequencing makes quick work of CD refs. The new version, which includes enhanced dither choices, adds iZotope’s proprietary MBIT+™ redithering algorithm to Sonic Studio’s spectrally shaped TPDF redithering. Both choices are psychoacoustically–optimized redithering schemes, each with a different sonic “color,” so you can match your redithering choice to your material.
With a feature set that’s unique for its price, PreMaster CD 3.0 enters distribution in June, with a starting price of US$495. Available on the web at store.sonicstudio.com, PreMaster CD is also sold through Sonic Studio’s international network of pro audio distributors and channel partners. For more information, a demo copy or, to arrange a full trial run in your own studio, visit www.sonicstudio.com.
About Sonic StudioSonic Studio is the premier manufacturer of ultra–fidelity DSD post and PCM content creation systems. Sonic Studio’s Emmy award–winning NoNOISE II suite is the leading audio restoration toolset for archivists, record labels, videographers and forensic engineers while their product lines for Red and Scarlet Book premastering define the state of the art. Sonic Studio’s digital audio workstations and software are in use at major studios, record labels, broadcast and post production facilities worldwide. Based in Marin County, California, Sonic Studio has an international network of distributors and channel partners who share their commitment to quality and service.
PreMaster CD, PMCD, Smart Fade Tool, Manual DeClick II, DDP File Open, sonicstudio.com and the Sonic Studio logo and type are trademarks of Sonic Studio, LLC in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks, trade names, service marks, and logos referenced herein belong to their respective companies.
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