In this video for Production Expert made with the support of Universal Audio, Technical Editor James Ivey invites 2 friends to record a track with him using 2 Universal Apollo X16 audio interfaces. James also shows how he uses the UA Apollo 16 Generation 2 in a console workflow allowing him to access many great UAD-2 effects emulations. We also answer the question about which sounds better the new Apollo X16 or Gen 2 Apollo 16 interface.
We Test 3 Top DeClipper Plug-ins That Quickly Restores Distorted Audio - Listen, Compare & Vote For The Example You Prefer The Sound Of
In this test we put three popular de-clipper plug-ins up against each other in a blind listening test. Quality de-clipper plug-ins, such as the three products featured in this test, will repair and reconstruct clipped peaks lost (or not recorded) in the tracking process resulting in audio that sounds cleaner and, most importantly, usable. Clipping is a form of distortion artefact… not the type you want. Vote for the example you prefer the sound of.
The Mastering EQ Plug-in You Never Knew You Were Missing All This Time In Your Mixes
In this free video tutorial Dan Cooper shows you a mastering EQ plug-in he’s really enthusiastic about. It’s utterly transparent and always manages to add that sheen to music through its simple to set EQ controls and the resulting masters don’t sound overly harsh or overdone.
How Does Smash & Grab From GetGoodDrums Sound On A Busy Multitrack Drum Part? Hear For Yourself In This Test
GetGoodDrums is an impressive new company. Their purpose built Smash and Grab drum compressor brings a surprisingly fresh, intuitive, and musical plug-in to the table in an already extremely crowded market. In this video, you’ll see and hear how it works on more nuanced and complex drum parts; that use grace notes, dynamics, fills, rolls, and more.
Mac Pro 5,1 Cheese-grater With Thunderbolt - The Impossible Is Now Possible
When we heard that our friends at Create Pro has done the impossible to get a Thunderbolt card running in a Mac Pro Cheese-grater, we knew we had to bring it to you.
The Neumann NDH20s Are High Impedance. What Difference Will That Make To What You Hear?
The new NDH20s from Neumann look like a lovely set of headphones, of all the stats the one which caught our eye was the high impedance. What difference does the impedance of a pair of headphones make?
Get Big & Full 3 Way sound in a Near Field Monitoring Environment With Eve Audio’s SC305 Monitors
Most of us working in home studios use 2-way nearfield monitoring. 3-way monitors in smaller home studio environments are often impractical for three reasons. First, is cost, second is the physical size of the monitors and third is the size of the room. Eve Audio have a unique solution to 3 way monitoring with their SC305 model, that addresses all these obstacles.
Stimulate Your Imagination by Generating Unique Chord Patterns with Chord Composer From Intuitive Audio
Chord Composer from Intuitive Audio is a chord generator plug-in which allows you to create fully customizable chord progressions, based on varying amounts of input from the user. It’s part chord progression “generator” and part chord progression “builder”. In this video, I test it out to see how it works in terms of the different ways it can generate chord patterns and rhythms based on varying degrees of user input.
Slate Digital's VRS8 Audio Interface Is Finally Here - Was It Worth The Wait?
I think it’s fair to say we have waited quite a “long time” for the Slate Digital VRS8 Virtual Recording Studio audio interface, the first from Steven and the team. So was it worth the wait? Rather than have just one unit, I have been lucky enough to get my hands on two VRS8 interfaces to use in my studio on a real life session. How did they hold up and most importantly, how do they sound in action?
Apple Mac mini 2018 Tested For Audio Production Work - Is This The Next Computer You Should Buy For Your Studio?
We've been asked by many people to take a look at the Mac mini 2018 to see if the claims of it being 'awesome' on the one hand or that the 'USB2 audio is broken' are true. There's some merit in other reviews and also in anecdotal evidence from forums and social media, but to be frank, the only way to get to the facts is to test it ourselves. Not only have we tested this Mac mini 2018 on its own but benchmarked it against a Mac Pro Late 2013 to give you a sense of the power under the hood of the Mac mini 2018.
Want To Get Some Serious Low End Into Your Kick Drum Recording? We Try The Solomon LoFreq Microphone
I’m sure we have all seen the recording trick where you use a speaker, traditionally the woofer from a Yamaha NS-10 monitor speaker, to record the kick or bass drums from the outside. This technique is an excellent way to capture some real low-end sub tones but, there is nothing pretty about a homemade “Heath Robinson” contraption cobbled together stand arrangement. Could the Solomon LoFreq be an aesthetically and musically pleasing, alternative to the high priced Yamaha or DW alternative?
Soundtoys 5 - Is This Truly The Ultimate Effects Rack Asks Community Member Marc JB
21 feature laden and analog rich plugins designed by the geniuses who have shaped the sound of modern music, could this be the ultimate effects package? Guest contributor DJ Marc JB who is one half of remixers/producers Bimbo Jones shares his thoughts and experience with this Soundtoys 5.
Are The New HEDD Tower Mains The Best Behaved Main Monitors You'll Hear?
The HEDD Tower Mains are big main monitors and that part of the market is dominated by a handful of very respected and very established names. Can this very original infinite baffle design compete at the top end?
New EVE SC207 Monitors After Twenty Years - Why Did I Wait So Long?
Why do we want great studio monitors? That is not an obvious question to answer. On one hand, we want some degree of gratification as we are working on our music. In other words, we want it to sound good. But we also want to make sure we are mixing our music properly so that it will sound great wherever it is listened to. I am going to suggest a third facet. The better our studio monitors are, the more we take them for granted. And that is a good thing! The main thing I want from my monitors is to not think about them. I mean like ever.
Wes Audio Beta 76 - Is This The Best Tribute Of The 1176 Ever Produced? We Find Out In Our Studio Test
In this studio test we put the Wes Audio Beta 76 through it’s paces. It looks like an 1176, all be it with a handful of neat additions… but does it sound like an 1176? What makes this take on a legend different from the original units which came before?
JBL 306P MKII - You Should Definitely Check Out These Monitors Which Sound Like They Cost Far More Than They Actually Do
How much do you have to spend to get a pair of monitors which are good enough to use to make reliable mixing decisions? Considering how important monitoring is to every decision you make when mixing and that monitors are one of those categories of equipment where the people who can will spend tens of thousands on “professional monitoring”. Is it sensible to mix on monitors which cost this little?
Time To Try Something New - We Try The JZ Black Hole Series Microphones In A Studio Session
As you can imagine we at Production Expert get a chance to test a vast amount of the latest software and hardware but once in a while a brand approaches us that we have no experience of. This was the case with JZ Microphones (pronounced Jay Zed, not Jay Zee). This is how I got on using the JZ Microphones Black Hole BH-1S and the BH2 in a tracking session.
Recording A Strings Section. Can You Fake The Sound Of An Orchestral Strings Section And Save Time And Money?
There is nothing that stirs my musical emotions more than listening to a large group of performers in the same room at the same time. It is quite something to feel the amount of air moved by a symphony orchestra or an 18 piece bing band. But not all of us have access to the spaces, gear and players required to record an ensemble of this size. However, you can “fake” it. In this article I’m going to show you how and let you listen to the results so far.
The Audio Summing Debate - Can You Tell The Difference? Fifth Test Audient ASP8024 Console With Tone Shaping
This is the fifth part of our tourney into what has become the Great Audio Summing Debate. Well done! You made it. It would not have been the same without you. This time we are again listening to an audio example summed through 16 channels of my Audient ASP8024HE console, but this time we are kicking in the magic bullets that are “Retro Iron”, “Low Bump” and “High Lift” to hear if some of the key features of the new Heritage Edition version of the Audient ASP8024 console really do improve things when it comes to the final mix.
The Audio Summing Debate - Can You Tell The Difference? Fourth Test Audient ASP8024 Console
In this the fourth part of the Audio Summing Debate we are going to start doing some “proper mixing” on a console. This time we listen to an audio example summed through my Audient ASP8024HE console to hear if all that analogue console beauty and wonder if it can actually be heard in the mix.