Use of Aviom Products Helps Attract New Clients, Makes Production and Maintenance Easier at The Loop Studios and Venue Rental and Recording Services

CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS, FEBRUARY 8, 2012—An Aviom Pro16® Personal Mixing System is key to the launch of Grammy Award-winner Dylan Ely’s two new companies, The Loop Studios and Venue Rental and Recording Services. Ely, a live sound and recording engineer, works with major recording artists such as Linkin Park, Jennifer Lopez and Ludacris. On the recording side, he has earned a Grammy Award for his work as recording engineer for Best Rap Album, for Ludacris’ Release Therapy in 2008. Ely’s success spurred him to start these new ventures.

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JESSUP, MARYLAND – FEBRUARY 2012: Evidence that JDK is quickly reaching the forefront of the audio industry, Emmy Award-winner Brian Tarquin has chosen the JDK R20 two-channel mic pre and R22 two-channel, four-band equalizer for one of his newest projects: Guitar Masters, Vol. 5.

“You know, I’ve always been a big fan of the old API stuff, so when I saw that API was putting out the JDK brand I was very intrigued – especially with the R22 compressor,” said Tarquin, who has previously recorded artists such as Steve Vai, Steve Morse, Frank Gambale and Billy Sheehan. “I knew the R22 was based on the original live mixing Paragon console, and then I saw that JDK had the EQs. JDK has some fantastic stuff.”

In his own career as an artist, Tarquin has had more than thirty commercial releases, which include more

DOBBS FERRY, NEW YORK – FEBRUARY 2012: For over three decades, Matthew Noble has been at the forefront of pop music as a session guitarist, programmer, songwriter, engineer, and producer. His impeccable ears and knack for spinning irresistible tracks across genres has earned him an engineering client list that includes Rihanna, Diana King, Southside Johnny, and Rod Stewart, among many others. These days, he performs most of his work out of the Loft Studios in Bronxville, New York and in the newly renovated Riverworks Recording in Dobbs Ferry, New York. Recent work with the musical Big River and gospel artist Rell Holland & Experience have put Noble’s new favorite plug-in, Metric Halo’s enduring ChannelStrip, through its paces.

“I tried Metric Halo’s ChannelStrip because some other people that I respect were using it,” explained Noble. “My friend Keith Brown, who is a well-known Nashville songwriter, was working on a project with Billie Decker, who is one of the hottest mix engineers in country music. Keith’s enthusiasm for the plug-in, together with his revelation that Billie uses it ‘all over the place,’ was enough to motivate me to check it out.”

Riverworks Recording boasts a huge, luscious acoustical space, which has changed the way both Noble and the producers and artists he works with approach the recording process. “So much of my work there has involved tracking live instruments, as opposed to the ‘virtual players’ that live inside our modern computers,” he said. “While it’s been a refreshing change, it has also brought with it challenges. For example, getting a great drum sound and a great overall mix with the new expectations for how long things take these days is not easy. ChannelStrip has been very helpful because all the functions that I need to access quickly are all in one plug-in. These include the less ‘sexy’ functions, such as phase reverse and multiple trims, in addition to full-blown and flexible dynamics and equalization. Having everything in one plug-in has greatly improved my workflow.”

Because it can do so much, Noble often puts Metric Halo’s well-crafted presets to use. “The ChannelStrip presets are a great starting point. They’re especially useful in a time crunch, when the client is breathing down your neck. The acoustic guitar and drum presets are often spot on, right out of the gate. When I tweak, the informative GUI lets me know exactly what I’m doing.” Of course, the best GUI in the world is useless if the algorithms behind it don’t cut the mustard. It’s here that Noble finds it really shines. “ChannelStrip has a great sound,” he said. “Like an SSL, it can be very aggressive and not at all subtle. Despite all its flexibility and sonic muscle, it has remarkably low CPU drain, which means I can use it whenever I need it.”

Noble’s introduction to Metric Halo’s ChannelStrip came back to him in an interesting way. “Last week, a New York client of mine wanted to make a few changes on a song that he had recorded recently in Nashville,” he explained. “I opened the session and saw ‘Dekerator’ on it. Then I knew Billie Decker had performed the original mix. A moment later, the mix window opened and there was the ChannelStrip plug-in – all over the place!”

ABOUT METRIC HALO Now based in the sunny city of Safety Harbor, Florida, Metric Halo provides the world with high-resolution metering, analysis, recording and processing solutions with award-winning software and future-proof hardware. www.mhlabs.com

Matt Noble: www.matthewnoble.com
Loft Studios: www.theloftstudios.net
Riverworks Recording: www.riverworksrecording.com

Engineer Ross Hogarth Oversees Immense Much-Anticipated Project

Recording engineer/mixer Ross Hogarth joined mastering engineer Bernie Grundman and his assistant Joe Bozzi for extended sessions at Bernie Grundman Mastering in Hollywood to finalize Van Halen’s new album, “A Different Kind of Truth.” Recorded at Henson Studios and recorded / mixed at 5150 Studios, this marks the band’s first album in 14 years.

Hogarth began working on the project more than a year ago, and once material was recorded and mixed, stepped into Bernie Grundman Mastering to work on the final touches of equalization, sequencing, and preparation for release on CD, vinyl, and various digital release formats. A much sought after producer as well as engineer, Hogarth has worked with such artists as REM, Ziggy Marley, Keb Mo, Jewel, Melissa Etheridge, John Mellencamp, John Fogerty, and Motley Crüe.

The new album is the first full length Van Halen album since 1998′s “Van Halen III” and the first new music from the band since the three new songs included on 2004′s “Best of Both Worlds” compilation. It will also be the first Van Halen album to feature Eddie’s son, Wolfgang Van Halen, on the bass in place of Michael Anthony.

Van Halen’s current lineup is David Lee Roth, lead vocals; Eddie Van Halen, lead and rhythm guitars, backing vocals; Alex Van Halen, drums; and Wolfgang Van Halen, bass, backing vocals.

The band has racked up sales of over 56 million albums in the United States alone and is one of five rock bands that have had two albums sell more than 10 million copies in the U.S.

Van Halen’s new album from Interscope Records release date February 7, 2012. “Tattoo” is the first single.

For more information about Bernie Grundman Mastering, visit:
http://www.bgmastering.com

Recording and mix engineer Edward J “UK” Nixon of the Grammy Award winning US production team J.U.S.T.I.C.E League, has been using a Prism Sound Orpheus FireWire interface on a number of high profile projects including the mixes for Dare To Dream and the Mobb Deep single Street Lights.

Nixon, who carried out the projects at both Metropolis Studios in London and a private facility, says the natural, clean and detailed nature of the Orpheus allowed him to record every nuance and character of both vocal performance and the performance and character of a vintage Neumann U47 microphone.

“A further increase in perceived depth, width and height were obtained during the mix process thanks to the Orpheus converters, resulting in mixes that we were all very happy with,” Nixon says. “Simply put, the ADC and DAC enabled me to see and hear the bigger picture, which perfectly marries to my approach. Using Orpheus I can create and capture an exact image and place elements within that image with pinpoint accuracy. We don’t cut corners and neither have the Orpheus designers – they deserve the crown, because the Orpheus is King!”

Nixon’s decision to try out the Orpheus was initially inspired by fellow engineer James Towler, Steve Winwood’s Front of House, Studio and Tour Manager.

“James uses Prism Sound ADA-8X multichannel converters and had expressed his opinion and recommendation, in particular to the quality of the converters,” Nixon explains. “After Avid released Pro Tools 10 last year with increased PDC, I decided to look at making the transition from Logic Pro Audio for mixing duties as I had, for the majority of the time up to that point, been tracking in Pro Tools and mixing in Logic Pro Audio 9. The Orpheus has integrated seamlessly into my set-up. The microphone preamplifiers are perfect for tracking vocals or instrumentation, both in a studio environment and on location in a hotel room – something I have done on many occasions with great results.”

Nixon adds that another great feature of the Orpheus is its stack-ability, which has allowed him to daisy-chain up to six units for 48 channels of analogue I/O.

“This is reassuring for expansion going forward,” he says. “Also, the headphone amps are perfect for editing, with detail enabling my assistant M to hear everything, every unwanted click, pop, artifact or extraneous noise. M carries out the majority of mix preparation using headphones as we find that the isolation aids concentration. The level of detail provided between Orpheus and our Sennheiser HD650 headphones has resulted in zero edits falling through the net and impacting the mix process.”

Nixon adds that the sheer accuracy of the converters has enabled him to be in complete control of everything from image and transient information to frequency representation.

“Most importantly, it gives me peace of mind because it is totally rock solid,” he says.

Born and bred in the Lake District, Edward J “UK” Nixon has been based in the US since joining the J.U.S.T.I.C.E League (which stands for Just Undeniably Some of The Illest Composers Ever) in 2010. His first project for the team was Maybach Music III featuring Erykah Badu, T.I. & Jadakiss. This was included on Rick Ross’s Gold selling Teflon Don album, which also featured the J.U.S.T.I.CE League-produced No. 1 Billboard single Aston Martin Music featuring Drake & Chrisette Michele.

In recent months Nixon has been using his Orpheus to mix albums in the UK for Mercury Records’ Dot Rotten and Island Records’ AnGel, both of whom he describes as ‘super talented artists destined for unequivocal success in 2012’. Dot Rotten’s first official single Are You Not Entertained from his highly anticipated debut album Voices In My Head will be released on March 5th, 2012. Other recently completed projects from the team include Yelawolf’s Write Your Name featuring Mona Moua, Ace Hood’s Body 2 Body featuring Chris Brown, Keyshia Cole’s Long Way Down, Young Jeezy’s F.A.M.E. featuring T.I” and Trapped featuring Jill Scott both from TM:103 Hustlerz Ambition, the No. 1 selling RnB/Hip-Hop album on Billboard over the Christmas period (F.A.M.E. & TM:103 Hustlerz Ambition have in recent days been certified Gold).

“Here in England, I have been mixing at Britannia Row Studios and a private facility, while in the US I work at Tree Sound Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, which the J.U.S.T.I.C.E League calls home,” Nixon explains. “We also have three extensive home based rigs in the city and I am currently in the process of finding a suitable home in England.

“It really is a privilege to work alongside such talented musicians, writers, producers and friends and to have the opportunity to evolve and adapt. The team challenge me to shape the sonic signature of each and every record that we make, forever inching closer toward perfection.”

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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

With the CALM Act now law in the US and compliance soon to be mandatory, Prism Sound is using the NAB 2012 platform to highlight the importance of loudness meter verification by showing a new application for its award-winning dScope Series III audio analyzer.

This unique, freely-available test suite allows broadcasters and manufacturers to determine whether every aspect of their meter design complies with the latest international loudness standards.

Developed by Dr Rich Cabot, Founder and CTO of Qualis Audio, and Ian Dennis, joint-founder and CTO of Prism Sound, this comprehensive new suite of audio tests can be used to evaluate the performance and compliance of any loudness meter on the market. As US broadcasters are now legally obliged to comply with the ATSC A/89 standards, Prism Sound’s new test suite enables them to properly evaluate all loudness meters and ensure that their chosen product can deliver both ATSC and ITU BS.1770 compliance.

The new test suite will be on show at Prism Sound’s NAB 2012 booth (C3029). Visitors to the booth can obtain a FREE set of wave files and dScope Series III test files for verifying the performance of their loudness meters. The wave files have been specifically designed to expose any design flaws in a loudness meter, and the dScope Series III programmable test suite replicates these test signals in a highly convenient format, allowing the waveforms to be sourced directly from the dScope Series III digital signal generator.

Prism Sound is widely regarded as the leading expert in the field of audio test and measurement. The company offers a range of audio test solutions including the highly-acclaimed dScope Series III instrument, which incorporates precision, automatic gain-ranging that allows high resolution analogue measurements over a massive range, from a few micro-volts to more than 150 volts RMS, and from less than 1 Hz to over 90kHz. Its dedicated hardware interface uses DSP to provide a wide range of real time measurements, while its software exploits the host PC for almost unlimited number crunching and analysis options such as Fast Fourier Transforms, unique ‘Smart FFT’ soft instruments, swept sine and multi-tone testing. Designed to be highly programmable, the dScope Series III can be automated from a wide range of third-party software applications using Active X controls, or internally using VBScript.

Prism Sound will be showcasing its full range of audio Test & Measurement solutions at NAB 2012, 16–19 April, 2012, Las Vegas Convention Centre, Las vegas UAS, Booth C3029. For further information visit www.prismsound.com

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About Prism Sound
Founded in 1987 in Cambridge, UK, Prism Sound manufactures a range of high quality professional test equipment for audio applications. The company is organized in three divisions and in addition to audio test equipment, Prism Sound also manufactures equipment for high-quality recording and production for music and sound applications and for voice-logging recorders used in law enforcement, legislative and business applications. Prism Sound audio test equipment is used by many major consumer electronics brands in automotive, home entertainment, personal mobile, communications and other market sectors as well as most of the world’s leading broadcasters including the BBC. Prism Sound’s music recording products are widely used by leading professionals in music and film sound such as the legendary Abbey Road Studios in London.

For more information: www.prismsound.com

SAFETY HARBOR, FLORIDA: Metric Halo has completely revamped its website, bringing the crystalline clarity of modern design and functionality to its online presence. The new site, www.mhsecure.com (which is also accessible at the old address, www.mhlabs.com) offers users well-organized access to product information, product support, purchasing, and user-community wikis & list-serves. It is simple and intuitive to navigate and will make more

Audition a Variety of Mics in Your Personal Studio Listening Space

TELEFUNKEN Elektroakustik, the TEC Award-winning microphone company which faithfully recreates the vintage sound of classic Telefunken mics, is now offering access to a number of multi-track recording sessions with a variety of musical artists.

The latest addition to the TELEFUNKEN Elektroakustik multi-track session file series was recorded at Germano Studios during the 131st Audio Engineering Society Convention in New York City. Engineered by Germano Studios staff engineer Kenta Yonesaka through the studio’s SSL “Duality” console, with assistance from TELEFUNKEN Elektroakustik’s, Brendan Morawski.

The artists featured during this recording session were songwriter Andrew Cole backed by female vocalist Chantel Upshaw, guitarist Lee Sylvester, drummer Bryan Kelly, bassist Bill Carleton, and pianist Tony Parlapiano. Andrew’s original song “Dead Roses” is an acoustic folk-pop song with a breathy male lead vocal and a haunting female accompaniment.

Some of the highlights heard on these files feature several TELEFUNKEN Elektroakustik classics employed for vocals. The ELA M 251, U48, C12, as well as the R-F-T AR-51 and CU-29 have become the norm for vocal duties on the multi-track session series. Unconventionally, a pair of R-F-T AK-47 MkII microphones were placed in direct comparison to a pair of the venerable classic C-12 in drum overhead duties.

Additionally, TELEFUNKEN Elektroakustik premiered two proto-type models from the company’s line of dynamic range mics. The M82 specialized kick drum mic made its debut, along with the just released M81 instrumental microphone. Featuring a flatter frequency response, the M81 was employed for recording toms,, and placed next to R-F-T series CU-29 “Copperhead” and AR-51s on electric guitar.

Also in less familiar microphone applications, a pair of ELA M 260 microphones was used to record an upright piano while a proto-type DI and R-F-T CU-29 made their first appearance in a bass recording application. To fill out the session, an R-F-T AR-70 stereo microphone expertly captured the overall room sound.

These files are available for download to the user’s favorite DAW system in 24-bit .WAV format at 44.1k sampling rate. All are welcome to not only audition these files, but to listen to and compare the various “multi-mic’d” scenarios while finding a textural mix balance that suits one’s particular personal sense of aesthetic.

“We encourage listeners to use these files to get familiar with the TELEFUNKEN product line and also fine tune their mixing skills,” commented Alan Veniscofsky, Director of Operations.
To learn more about the TELEFUNKEN Session Files, visit:
http://www.telefunken-elektroakustik.com/download/multi-track-sessions.php

Andrew Coles “Dead Roses” was recorded in NYC at Germano Studios in NYC:
http://www.telefunken-elektroakustik.com/download/andrew-cole/

Jonny Rodgers “Glorious” sessions feature water filled wine glasses and male voice,
and was tracked at TELEFUNKEN Studios in CT.
http://www.telefunken-elektroakustik.com/download/jonny-rodgers/

Massachusetts-based band The Brew has sessions for “What I Want” available for download and mixing at:
http://www.telefunken-elektroakustik.com/download/brew/

For info about TELEFUNKEN Elektroakustik, visit: http://www.t-funk.com

Slovakian Musicians Work Under Auspices of The National Democratic Institute

Oscar, Grammy & Golden Globe Award-winning composer Hans Zimmer recorded music of the Roma people, commonly known as Gypsies, for the dynamically moving score of “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.” Under the auspices of the National Democratic Institute, Zimmer traveled to Slovakia and found virtuoso Roma musicians who then traveled to Vienna to record at Austria’s MG Sound recording studios.

“I grew up loving the Roma music so much, those ‘Gypsy violins’,” Zimmer recalls. “But I never really knew who they were. I told our director, Guy Richie, that we had to do a road trip. While visiting Roma settlements in Slovakia, we discovered unbelievable musicianship. We heard a few bands, loved their playing and invited them to Vienna, where we went into the recording studio and started making music.”

Through this project, Zimmer hopes to draw attention to the plight of the marginalized and disenfranchised Roma people of Eastern Europe, commonly known as Gypsies. He traveled under the auspices of the NDI, a non-profit group that fosters democracy and human rights around the world. Bonnie Abaunza, VP of Zimmer’s Remote Control Charitable Foundation, accompanied him and his photographer daughter Zoe and film crew for the road trip to Slovakia.

In Vienna, Zimmer praised the Roma musicians, many of whom had never been professionally recorded, and the great sound they achieved in the studio. “I told them that I wanted their music on top of the orchestral score. Of course, Sherlock plays the violin and the true virtuosos are always those ‘Gypsy’ violins. I said we only had one chance to do this music the best we can and put it out into the world. It’s folkloric but at the same time there is incredible sophistication.”

“Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows – The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack” is now available from WaterTower Music. Proceeds from the soundtrack album go toward assisting the Roma people. [1][2][3]In addition to receiving the 18 tracks on the album, those who purchase the soundtrack will also be able to download three free additional tracks from the film, along with a video chronicling Zimmer’s journey to record the music of the Roma people.

for information about MG Sound, visit : http://www.mg-sound.com

Award Nominations Feature Top Engineers & Producers who use Dangerous Music equipment

Edmeston, NY – February 6, 2012 – Dangerous Music is extending congratulations to several of their users who have Grammy(r) nominated projects for 2011. All the clients have great praise for the Dangerous Music gear they used in their productions, from the Foo Fighters, with mastering engineers Emily Lazar and Joe LaPorta, the Kings of Leon with co-producer and engineer Jacquire King, Glenn Schick mastering for Canton Jones, and Nashville’s producer and engineer John Schirmer for Keb Mo, to the engineers and producers at New York’s Stadium Red studios who turned out a host of nominations for projects from artists J. Cole, Chris Brown, Marsha Ambrosius, and classical composer Steven Mackey. The Grammy Awards are to be televised live February 12, on CBS. more