PreSonus Blog

Monthly Archives: April 2014


Laurel Mountain Elementary Wins Competition

Congratulations to Sara Power, music instructor at  Laurel Mountain Elementary school. She just won the National Association of Music Education’s “Music In Our Schools”Monthly competition! PreSonus is proud to sponsor this award with an AudioBox Stereo, so Sara can record all of her students’ great performances!

 

The Laurel Mountain Elementary Music Program, directed by Sara Power and Joan Marshall, serves grades K-5. Laurel Mountain is a school for talent development where everyone is a learner, teacher, decision-maker, and contributor.

Kirk Farmer of Dirty Rumors on the PreSonus Solution

[This just in from Kirk Farmer of the Dirty Rumors, who are living the PreSonus life to the fullest!]

Thanks for the invitation to be included in your blog. We are called Dirty Rumors. We’re a quasi rock band / jam band from Roanoke, VA comprised of Kirk Farmer, (Me) on lead vocal and guitar, Tim (Caesar) O’Sullivan on lead guitar, Scott Sutton on bass, Ben Hite on keys, and Thomas Wilson on drums. We’re more of a jam band than anything. Our live performances are heavy on the long instrumental jams with variety of influxes including rock, funk, blues and county. We actually have a large collection of live tracks that can be streamed from our website. Most of which were also recorded using the same equipment and software we used to record the EP. The EP is called Unity Gain and was released online through TuneCore.com in January.

I was originally introduced to PreSonus when I worked as a recording engineer in Raleigh, NC. I saw a demo of the StudioLive 16.4.2 at a show put on by one of your distributors in Greensboro. I was particularly impressed with it’s ease of use and by the transparency of the preamps.

I few years later, I relocated to Roanoke,VA and brought on a business partner named Nate Potter in order to expand my mastering studio, K-14 Studios service offerings to include mobile, multi-track recording. Nate was also a big fan of the Presonus gear and owned a 16.4.2, and also introduced me to Studio One.

Tim and I formed Dirty Rumors in September of 2012. When we made the decision to record our EP, it was only logical that Nate and I produce and engineer the project using the PreSonus gear that we had been using to record our clients with.

As mentioned before, we primarily use the 16.4.2 for tracking. One of the great things about this setup is its mobility. All we need is the board, the laptop, the snake and some mics and we’re in business—literally! We use Capture to track everything, including overdubs. Once we get the tracks back to the studio, we use a FirePod as a speaker/headphone interface, and mix the sessions on Studio One. We also use Studio One’s project page for mastering.

The things we like most about the PreSonus hardware are the quick setup time and the preamp quality. With other digital mixers, we can potentially spend a significant amount of time just getting the board settings where we want them. Using any outboard gear  just adds to the process. With the 16.4.2, we can be powered up and signal and level checked in less than 10 minutes.

As far as the preamps are concerned, the transparency and gain insures a good recording the first time, every time. This is paramount when recording a live show where we might not get a second take. They also allow for a great deal of flexibility during the mixdown process. We can make a lot more creative decisions about the overall sound of the project when we don’t have to contend with preamp coloration introduced by your hardware.

On the software side, Studio One is undoubtedly the most flexible and user-friendly DAW I’ve ever used. It’s intuitive, powerful, and very easy on my CPU. In the past, I’ve primarily used Pro Tools and Audition, both for their different strengths: Pro Tools for tracking and Audition for mastering. Studio One combines the best of both worlds in one very dynamic suite.

Nate and I are currently working on a video project for a band from Lynchburg, VA. Again, we used the PreSonus gear for the tracking, and continue to use Studio One for the post- production processing. Our last major project was the Unity Gain EP, which we created ourselves from start to finish. Dirty Rumors is rumored to be recording a concert video in May at the new amphitheater in downtown Roanoke. We plan to use the 16.4.2, tied in to the FOH board through a splitter snake to record the audio from the show.  We’re also talking about recording a full length album this summer, and PreSonus is along for the ride every step of the way!

Incredible New StudioLive AI series from Groove3!

Check out this incredibly comprehensive series of videos from the geniuses at Groove3. These guys have broken down the StudioLive AI workflow into easily-digestible bite-size pieces. First-time-buyers will find everything they need to get connected and running on the StudioLive AI, while seasoned audio vets can skip straight to the chapter on ringing out monitors.

The incredibly thorough Groove3 has left no stone unturned here, and have also taken on VSL, remote mixing, Smaart wizards, and the AI family’s integration with Studio One.

Click here to check out the StudioLive AI series from Groove3 with some free videos. Enjoy!

 

 

 

How @KATFYR made his hit, “Lose Control”

We’re happy to report that PreSonus Artist KATFYR’s track “Lose Control” is currently sitting at the #2 spot on Beatport’s Dubstep chart, notably above some guy called “Skrillex.” We’re equally happy to also report that the track was made in none other than Studio One!

If you’ve ever wanted to see what makes a track like this tick, you need look no farther than to KATFYR’s demonstration of Studio One at NAMM 2014, where you can see how “Lose Control” was built from the ground up.

Sincere congrats to a good friend doing good work. If you’re so inclined, why not help him out a bit, and get a copy of the track and bump him up to #1?

Big Sounds for Small Spaces – The Temblor T10 and Eris 4.5

This is one of the better episodes of PreSonus LIVE that we’ve done for a while—no bandwidth problems! Amazing! In it, PreSonus tech support guru Dominic “TicToc” Bazile takes us on a tour of the new Temblor T10 Subwoofer and Eris 4.5 studio monitors. This combination is an ideal way to bring some real rumble to a modest home studio—if you want it. The Temblor’s foot-switchable bypass can tone things down when the neighbors start complaining.

For more on these products, watch the video—duh. But for even more more, click the following links:

 

Tiny Frog Media’s StudioLive AI PA System Overview

When Tiny Frog Media is involved, the hits can’t/won’t stop. Here, Greg takes a close look at the entire line of StudioLive AI PA Loudspeakers. His talk-through is pretty handy if you’re trying to decide exactly which StudioLive AI PA speaker is right for you and your applications. While he addresses high-tech matters such as power, DSP, and software integration, he also addresses some of the equally-enthralling low-tech features offered by these speakers, including threaded pole-mount adapters, dollies, and dust jackets. Give a look-see.

New StudioLive Handbook Available

Mixer aficionados the world over could always stand to learn a new trick or two, and at the rate that technology changes, sometimes we all find ourselves with a little catching up to do. Good thing, then, that Alfred Music has recently released the StudioLive Mixer handbook, which has a little something for everyone. If you’re using one of the classic StudioLive mixers or the new AI mixers, you will find something of value as the book covers both! Furthermore, it’s broken down into a simple three-tier arrangement: a general overview, live sound, and studio recording—including a nice bonus chapter on mic placement.

You’ll also find info on getting the most out of using your StudioLive with external devices like your laptop and iPhone, feedback elimination, remote iPad control, and recording your shows.

Here’s a couple freebies to get ya hooked:

With the publication of this tome, renowned engineer/producer Bobby Owsinski has cemented his stature as a dyed-in-the-wires StudioLive expert. After all, he wrote the book on it, right?

Click on over to Alfred Music’s site to grab a copy today.

Tiny Frog Media on the StudioLive 32.4.2AI

The kind folks at Tiny Frog Media posted this not-tiny overview of the StudioLive 32.4.2AI! This is a pretty thorough overview, right down to the coverage of our new fader dust guards. Thanks much for doing this guys—keep it up!

Cheggitout!