PreSonus Blog

Monthly Archives: March 2013


Introducing Brad Zell’s SOUNDCHECK! First up: Kevin Randolph

So, (Sound) check this out. Brad Zell had debuted his new vlog series, SoundCheck, over on YouTube. In it, he’ll be visiting PreSonus Artist studios, videocamera in hand, and grab tips, tricks, advice, and words of wisdom from some of today’s hottest professional producers, engineers and musicians.

This debut episode of SoundCheck features producer/keyboardist Kevin Randolph from his Los Angeles-based Studio. Kevin has worked with Keyshia Cole, Mary J. Blige, Snoop Dogg and many others. Check it out!

Subscribe over at YouTube to receive updates!

PreSonus LIVE Airs Thursday! 11 a.m. CDT / noon EDT / 9 a.m. PDT / 17:00 GMT

Join us as we welcome back legendary New Orleans drummers Terence Higgins, Eric Vogel, and Andrew Block, who will track killer drum, bass, and guitar loops in Studio One—all LIVE!

The loops will be made available as custom multitrack Soundsets for Studio One from thelooploft.com, allowing you to easily arrange and mix the grooves into your own songs—100% royalty-free.

Tune in to the live webcast and enter the chat room to request specific grooves and styles for the band to record, as the session is happening.

http://bit.ly/LG91se

 

Women in Pro Audio Vol. 4: Cookie Marenco, Producer/Engineer, Founder of Blue Coast Records

[With more than 20 years in the music industry, Cookie Marenco’s creative and technical skills have touched almost every aspect of the music and audio business. She is widely known for the quality of her audio engineering skills and for drawing out passionate performances from the artists she produces.  Marenco is an advocate of using analog tape for recording while pioneering digital delivery to consumers using DSD digital audio.]

  • According to this article, women account for 5% of producers and engineers—why do you feel this is?

You know, it’s a question I never think about. I chose to be a recording engineer and producer because it was something I liked doing and people paid me to do. There are many other work areas dominated by men… notably entrepreneurship, auto racing, plumbing, construction, politics. Have you ever seen a female meat butcher? I did once. I stared at her it was so odd. She did a good job. 🙂

Then there are other fields dominated by women like nursing, fashion, elementary school teachers, publicists. I’m not an expert in those fields, but it seems that there are more women than men.

What could be an interesting study is the similarities of characteristics present in fields dominated by a gender. I don’t believe it’s a crime to have an industry dominated by a gender unless the opposite gender is willfully kept out and their contributions minimized.

I have never felt left out of engineering or producing because I was a woman. I read the article you’re linked to and am sad for the women who had so many problems getting into this field. My opinions and experiences more closely match those of  Trina Shoemaker.

If you’ve worked at a lot of studios, you’ll notice a certain personality type being more successful than others in the recording environment. Producing has a little more variety of personalities depending on the producer’s background, skills, financial backing and ability to manage a budget and deadline.

My label, Blue Coast Records, has been well received by the audiophile community. I don’t announce the fact I’m a woman, but I don’t hide it. On the forums, many think I’m a man. I find it amusing when they meet me for the first time. 🙂

  • Who inspired you to get involved in audio in the first place?

Good question… I started playing the piano at four, before I could read. Studied violin at ten(to get out of class), asked to play the oboe at 13, and at 14 was teaching piano. Up to that point, I wanted to be an astronaut. 🙂

My father loved his stereo and bought me a 4″ reel-to-reel tape deck from Sears when I was in 5th grade. We had a lot of fun with it. But I believe his greatest contribution was teaching me to play baseball and how to be competitive.

We all follow a path where we get the most positive reinforcement. Eventually, for me, that was music. Playing the oboe (and being competent) opened a lot of doors, along with having 60 piano students when I was 18. At 16, I changed my career focus to being a musician and composer.

At 19, I had a very influential teacher, Art Lande, who encouraged me follow my bliss. I left college (as a music student), joined several bands playing electronic keyboards. I was fascinated by sound, overtones and temperments used by various cultures—especially North Indian Classical—I studied the sitar for 3 years with Krishna Bhatt.

One of my band mates, Dino (JA Deane to those that know experimental music) suggested our rehearsal facility would make a great recording studio. He pointed to me as the ‘obvious’ choice of who’s going to learn to engineer (partly because I was out of town during the installation and this was his form of revenge for my absence—I say this lovingly.)

Formal training to be an engineer didn’t exist in the schools. We researched, bought gear and spent every day in the studio learning how to use the tools. Realistically, that’s 10% of the job. Understanding the needs of the artist is 90% of the job. A happy customer gives referrals.

The skills I attribute most to success was my history as a piano teacher/ entrepreneur. If people are going to spend their hard earned cash, you have to deliver confidence in what you do and deliver the best service you can offer. Being a musician myself, I could understand their needs. Give customers what they want, they’ll pay you. Pretty simple.

After 20 years, I was very skilled at recording but found the artists were more inclined to rely on protools and less on great performances performances. The job of engineer was like becoming a janitor and the music less exciting to me so, I took 3 years off in search of what to do next.

Eventually, I returned to analog tape and DSD (one bit recording that is the closest sound to analog tape.) I started Blue Coast Records and found a whole new set of customers—the end listener and music lover who appreciates high quality recording.

I still record and produce as a hired gun, have a crew of engineers, run an intern program with students from around the world and operate a commercial studio– all to analog tape and DSD. We also have a mastering facility to prep PCM and DSD masters—CD, DSD and WAV downloads, and Internet audio. To these, we’ve added a division for creating websites for musicians that cater to the unique needs of musicians and labels.

I’m proud of the accomplishments we’ve had in all my businesses. While I’ve been founder in several, I couldn’t do it without the help of hundreds of women and men from interns and high powered advisers to the crew who works with me daily.

In 2010 my label, Blue Coast Records, became the first to deliver DSD downloads through the internet to customers around the world. These one bit files are 40x the size of .MP3s and now close to 100 companies supporting consumer playback. Our goal is to add value in quality, and give the consumer reason to pay more for a download.

  • What do you feel are some of the best resources, online and otherwise, for women to get encouragement and support in the field?

This is a business of relationships. Don’t be afraid to contact people for advice both men and women. Seek those people you admire. Become friendly with your sales/equipment dealers. Hire people to learn from. You’ll keep these friendships for life as people change and move between companies.

Terri Winston’s WAM (Women’s Audio Mission) is a great resource for both women and men to learn from.

Rule of thumb:  follow your success and the people that like what you do—forget the rest. Not everyone is going to agree with you, and that’s okay. If you’re a woman and don’t get ‘the’ gig, it’s more likely you didn’t get the gig because you weren’t the right person… not because you’re a woman. Learn from it and make yourself the right person for the next gig.

  • Within the aforementioned 5%, do you see more women in production roles than engineering roles? What about when it comes to mastering? Arranging? Songwriting? Session musicans?

I’m not holding my breath for gender changing percentages in producing and engineering. The career path as an engineer is practically non-existent unless you’re an entrepreneur.

That being said, I do see more roles available for both genders in the web and internet audio fields. Even as a hobby, fewer women produce music at home, although, I see more women asking questions about recording in their home studio.

  • Do you feel that, for whatever reason, that there are some elements of the pro audio field that women have a more natural predisposition toward than men? If so, which and why?

Organization, management, hearing, listening, nurturing, taking care of business, multi-tasking—I do think women are better suited for studio work as a gender. But, I believe that the money is such a struggle that people are moving away from recording as career choice. Large studio systems are going away. If you’re a risk taker, ready to invest and start your own business, there are opportunities.

  • What’s your take on the idea that even addressing this situation—through a blog series such as this—is a step in the wrong direction? It can be argued that discussing women in audio as if it’s some sort of big deal further cements the troubling idea that men are normal, and women are different.

Well, I have to say I’m torn. I’d prefer to talk about what I do other than being a woman. I’d prefer to set an example by doing, not talking about being a woman.

It’s interesting that men tend to want to write about what it’s like being a woman in the business… not women. I’d prefer my legacy be my work in the techniques and brands I’ve innovated… not a string of articles about being a woman and how hard it was to overcome. I find being a woman is an asset not a liability.

  • Anything else you’d like to add?

Ryan, what’s it like being a man in this industry? I’ve never been one, so I don’t know. 🙂 Thanks for contacting me. I’m eager to do more articles not on this subject.

[Ryan’s response: “I will hit you up for more articles for certain! Being a guy in this industry feels quite… one-sided.”]

PreSonusLive—Using Studio One Plug-ins Live, Now up on YouTube!

Paul Svenson on Why He Left Pro Tools for Studio One

Paul Svenson of Dad's Songbook Music

Paul Svenson of Dad’s Songbook Music

[This just in from Paul Svenson, lifelong audio engineer, AV contractor extraordinaire, and mastermind behind Dad’s Songbook Music. Paul runs PS Audio Video in San Diego. He recently made the switch from Pro Tools to Studio One Professional 2.5—within three hours of using the software! I asked for more detail regarding the reason for his decision. His response follows.]

Hey PreSonus!

I’ve been recording since 1971, starting when I was 18—mostly projects where I was part of the production, engineering, mixing etc., although I also worked as a staff engineer in studios during the 80s.  In 1990 I was a rep for one of the early hard disc recording systems, ProDisk.  Our 8-track machine sold for $50,000. The other guys who were always around were the guys from Digidesign, with their very early version of Pro Tools. After all the rest of us vanished into irrelevance, Pro Tools kept growing to become the de facto standard. I made the switch from analog to Pro Tools around 1997 and had used it ever since.

Unfortunately, the pioneering spirit that helped Pro Tools survive and thrive vanished shortly after they were bought by Avid. Customer service was on a payment basis, and each subsequent version became more and more cumbersome and processor-intensive. A couple years ago, I started looking for a real legitimate alternative. Changing DAWs for me was not something I wanted to do more than once, so the experiments were on. Bottom line is that out of them, all I have chosen Studio One 2.5 to be my new DAW.
One of the experiments I tried early on was to abuse the software and make it or my computer fail. The test involved setting up 32 tracks—each with a McDSP Ultimate Compressor, PreSonus EQ, and Waves L1 Limiter—standard plugins from three different companies. 32 tracks was the limit on my native Pro Tools 10 setup, and my machine (a new iMac27″ 3.4GHz i7 with 16GB of RAM) started getting sluggish at that load. Studio One, on the other hand, just seemed to breeze through, so I doubled all the tracks to 64, using the same plugins. I put all the tracks into record mode and punched in/out several times, then went back and put half the tracks in record, and half in play, and punched in/out. No problem. Still breezin’.  So I doubled it again—128 tracks with 384 incidents of plugins—same result. This was mind-boggling for me.
The next experiment was to listen. In my opinion, in my very familiar room with my very familiar Quested monitors, Studio One 2.5 simply sounded better, not only on recording, but playing back tracks I had previously recorded into Pro Tools 10! Although hard to quantify, the sound to me seemed to be more open and clear across the spectrum. Another huge point for Studio One.
Finally, the thing that put Studio  One over the top was the Project Page and mastering features. All the projects I do still end up on some kind of physical media—usually CD. My clients need something to sell and autograph, so we still make discs. The fact that I can record a project in Studio One, go into mastering and if necessary jump instantly and seamlessly back into the original recording of a song for a last minute tweak was incredible! Studio One Professional 2.5 wins. I imported MS guitar and vocal tracks from an album I started in Pro Tools 10, and am finishing the project in Studio One instead.
Studio One was so easy to learn. It even had a keyboard map for Pro Tools so I didn’t have to memorize new key commands to get started. The online video tutorials and well-written manual are first-rate. The fact that PreSonus hasn’t become impersonal and “corporate” like Pro Tools is huge for me. The projects I do in my studio start and finish here. From now on they’ll do so in Studio One. Thanks PreSonus, you clearly have spent time in a studio and still have that pioneering spirit that makes the recording world a better place!
Paul Svenson
Dad’s Songbook Music
San Diego, CA

Rare Early Beach Boys Footage Discovered

Check out this incredible early footage of The Beach Boys that was just discovered. This early arrangement of “I Get Around” shows a few rough spots, but the genius of Brian Wilson’s songwriting was clearly there from the get-go. Happy Friday!

Controlling Feedback With The StudioLive and Smaart from Sonic Sense Pro Audio

Marc Nutter, VP at Sonic Sense shares a couple techniques for controlling stage monitor feedback using the PreSonus Studiolive 24.4.2 and Rational Acoustics Smaart. Thanks guys!

PreSonus LIVE airs Thursday! Using Studio One Plug-ins for Live Shows

PreSonus LIVE Airs Thursday | Using Studio One Plug-ins Live | 2 p.m. CST / 3 p.m. EST / Noon PST / GMT -6

Join Justin Spence as he presents a few tricks on using plug-ins in Studio One at your live shows. 

Jam in the Van Commits Joshua Tree Performances to History

Aptly-named Jam in the Van travels around in a a KILLER tour van that includes a StudioLive 24.4.2 and a sweet, sweet, paint job. They record all their in-the-van performances, shoot some killer video, and post the results online for the benefit of all musiciankind.

Here they talk a bit about their use of the StudioLive and QMix in getting their productions done. Hot stuff comin’ through!

Learn more about Jam in the Van at—wait for it—www.JamInTheVan.Com!

The Return of Swamp Grease!

Those of you who have been watching PreSonus LIVE for some time now will likely remember the time we lugged a bunch of cameras (and talented dudes) into Oak Street recording and tracked Terence Higgins’ Swamp Grease II. We had 11,000 people tune in. It remains our biggest PreSonus LIVE ever.

We followed it up with a show on mixing the record, and we wanted you to know that the record is
finally done and available on Nimbit! Have at it!