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Category Archives: Quantum


Capturing The UNLV Symphonic Wind Ensemble with Quantum 2626 and Studio One

“The way I found out about Studio One and PreSonus: I had lunch with Bob Moses (president of the Audio Engineering Society at one time)… and I asked him some questions about what he would recommend: what company was reliable, had integrity and specifically he said ‘you should look at PreSonus’ so that’s what I came away with”

Kevin Paez, Musician/Audio Engineer @bunnytonemusic (2022)

Under the musical direction of Conductor, Thomas Leslie and the production team of Wendell Yuponce, executive producer, David Garcia, recording engineer and mixer and Kevin Paez, assistant recording engineer; the award winning University of Nevada at Las Vegas (UNLV) Symphonic Wind Ensemble recently worked with special guest artists: John Patitucci (Chick Corea, Part Metheny, Herbie Hancock, numerous others), Eric Marienthal (Chick Corea,  Elton John, Billy Joel, numerous others), Mitchell Forman (Phil Woods, Carla Bley, Wayne Shorter, numerous others) and Bernie Dresel (Count Basie, Maynard Ferguson, Woody Herman, numerous others) and have recently completed initial tracking of a new recording project with a slate of all new wind orchestra works.

PreSonus Studio One DAW and Quantum 2626 audio interface captured the creative musical magic that flowed out over the span of nine days as the musicians tracked live onstage at the Artemus W. Ham Concert Hall on the UNLV campus.

This musical collection was commissioned to highlight the groundbreaking curriculum at the UNLV Wind Studies Department, which has an extensive history in expanding the repertoire of wind orchestra compositions and allowing students within the program the unique opportunity to interact with living composers of note while adding to the overall evolution of musical expression within the field of wind orchestra.

Happytwobehere with PreSonus


Happytwobehere is a duo from Covington, Louisiana comprised of two young ladies: Isabel Mathes (vocals) and Lillian Stegen (drums, keyboard, programming, production).

Here is their story…


Lillian: Isabel and I met in high school back in 2016 and became friends through our shared love of music. I can remember one day getting a ukulele and showing Isabel. We would always mess around, but one day we were like, “let’s write a song.” I can remember Isabel’s dad was picking her up and we had not finished the song. He arrived at my house and we were so excited to share it. We played it for him and he loved it. From there we knew that we could write. We began going to open mics at a local coffee shop and played our songs there. After we wrote a few songs, our friends started hearing them. We grew a following and support from our friends and family. We competed in our school’s talent show with an original and got so many positive reviews.

(Happytwobehere photographed by Margaret Killeen, New Orleans Botanical Gardens)

Being in high school, it was hard to get a gig. Our town is small and there are not many opportunities for kids like us. After we had gone to the open mic multiple times, the coffee shop owner reached out to us and wanted to book us to play our music there for two hours. This was the opportunity of a lifetime for us. When the show came, we packed the place out. Our friends and family came to support us and we had the best time ever. It was such an awesome moment to play our songs and have people sing them with us.

This was something Isabel came up with and it stuck. The phrase “Happy to be here” is something that we are whenever we go to play shows. We are so grateful for the opportunities we are given, so the name is fitting. The only difference between the phrase and our name is that the word to is spelled “two” because there are two of us!

To date, we have written about six or seven songs in total, and we plan to write many more in the future! We both have a passionate obsession with music and songwriting, so it’s always easy for us to collaborate.

The spring of 2020 was like no other. Isabel and I had been at different schools by this time, but wanted to release a song. I remember Isabel posted something on Instagram and I heard a groove with it. I sent her a demo and we got to writing. We would send voice memos back and forth because of the lockdown. In the end we created a song and music video all from home. The song, “Stay,” and its music video can be found on our individual Instagram accounts (Isabel) and (Lillian).

(Lillian, photographed by Margaret Killeen, New Orleans Botanical Gardens)

I have been living in Nashville for about two years now and love it. I am a student at Belmont University and have been truly blessed by PreSonus and what they have done. While it might seem small, their help has made me a better musician and opened many doors. Creating this project with PreSonus stuff helped be gain more knowledge with recording software. I was able to use what I learned in my own experiences and from audio engineering classes to start a job as a touring musician. The Quantum 2626 has traveled with me around the States! I have been able to drum at multiple music festivals with headliners like Miranda Lambert and Luke Bryan, using PreSonus’ gear for all of my needs during my set. Without their help, I could have easily been passed up for the gig. I am so grateful for their support!

(Isabel, photographed by Margaret Killeen, New Orleans Botanical Gardens)

Isabel: Working with PreSonus was such an amazing opportunity for us. Due to the pandemic and the fact that we attend different colleges, we’ve struggled with continuing our songwriting and performing as a band. PreSonus decided to assist by providing us with audio tools (Revelator USB Mic, HD9 Headphones, Quantum 2626, DM-7 Drum Mics and Studio One recording software, via PreSonus Sphere memberships) to begin creating our music via online collaboration. We wrote “Never Met,” which was something we never finished in 2019 — and it will be available for the general public on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and more soon!

Thanks PreSonus!

 


Join PreSonus Sphere today!

Only $14.95 per month for Studio One Professional, Notion, and so much more.

RMB Justize: Music Of The (PreSonus) Sphere

Discovering new sonic universes to explore is what being a musical artist is all about! 

Let’s dive into RMB Justize’s discussion about his worlds of sound, and how he does it all with PreSonus Sphere:


“Versatility and persistence are a deadly combination of characteristics. They are much-needed weapons to have in an artist’s arsenal.”

Based in Chicago, IL with ties to the DMV area… Taylor Gang’s in-house producer Ryan “RMB Justize” Baker grew up in a musical household, his mother being a classical violinist for the Chicago Sinfonietta, exposing RMB’s ears as early as six years old. 

“I caught the music bug from Mom, for sure. I remember turning 11 or 12 and having nothing but a voice recorder and a Yamaha DJX keyboard. Skateboarding was the thing back then, with influences ranging from Sum 41 to Incubus to The Neptunes and Noreaga. A couple of years later I finally dove into making music with computers, using every piece of software I could get my hands on until now. But… then came PreSonus Studio One, which changed it all for me.

“The interest came from an artist I worked with at the time—he wouldn’t stop mentioning it! After spending countless months into years on ProTools, FL Studio and Reason, I wanted a program that could do it all. I’m a religious template maker, as most are, so the workflow determines the imagination most if not all of the time and Studio One takes care of the madness with ease. Let’s just focus on the music and pushing envelopes more than finding where to click certain stuff. PreSonus did it right, ranging from AudioBox interfaces I’ve owned in the past, all the way to the new Quantum which gives me more than enough power to control the room.”

Since the premiere of Studio One version 5 in July of 2020, RMB has become a power user… eventually convincing a few fellow producers and artists to try it, if not make a full switch. 

“There have been times where I’ve walked into big label studio sessions and people look confused because they’ve never seen Studio One in person! Once I show my way of doing certain things, using certain plug-ins in certain ways, they’re overly surprised. It’s hands-down the fastest program, which lets me flex my mind-work and turn my rough thoughts (even voice notes) into full records. I’ve had people come to my studio for sessions and look surprised when they ask why I use it. You have to try for yourself to find your workflow.”

Honorably noted, PreSonus Sphere has made his processes for online collaboration, recording, mixing, and mastering an album-quality one-stop-shop, helping the migration become a breeze. Especially during times of a pandemic where people can’t communicate like they normally would, it’s a necessity. 

“I think all DAWs should have an ecosystem such as PreSonus Sphere, whether you’re just getting started or an A-list musician. The tools available make it seamless to share files and keep up to date on things like deadlines and most recent notes/mixes, rather than scrambling through emails and hard drives (which we can all relate to, I’m sure). Having that system in one spot, one site, one page, actually kept me in line when finishing a label record and staying up to date without confusion.” (Chevy Woods—Since Birth)

Recently focusing more on production and audio engineering as well, the AAF import feature has been a godsend.

“I still find myself walking people through how to convert sessions to AAF rather than tracking out. There is no other program that will line the session up identically with automation and fades, to say the least, which saves more time than I expected. That’s just a small piece of my realization, of how capable this DAW is. Cheers, PreSonus!” 

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, RMB’s main focus is to create cutting-edge music, knowing he has the perfect DAW to do so, with no issues.

RMB Justize @ PreSonus Sphere

PreSonus Weekend Rundown

It’s been a busy week. Let’s rehash the important stuff you may have missed.

This is a fun one going on with our friends at Splice. Mix “Nobody’s Gonna Love You” into a radio-ready track to win hardware and software from us, the Mixing University course from Recording Revolution, an Eyeball microphone cover, and a call with Briana Tyson.

Here’s how it works:
Click the photo to the right to visit Splice and download the project files and stems.
Once all the mixes are in, Graham from Recording Revolution will listen through the mixes and choose the one he thinks is radio ready to win his premiere mixing course Mixing University, a pair of Eris E66 Monitors and a copy of Studio One 4 Professional, an Eyeball microphone cover from Kaotica, a video call with Briana Tyson, and consideration from Briana Tyson for official release! You have until May 13th to submit your song. Winner announced June 10th.

 

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Quantum and DigiMax DP88 Overview and Test from Brian at PC Audio Labs / OBEDIA

Longtime friend and PreSonus advocate Brian Lorelle of OBEDIA and PC Audio Labs recently interconnected four Quantums and four DigiMax DP88s for a series of test runs in his laboratory in Nashville, taking a close look at CPU usage and latency under varying conditions including different sample rates, plug-in counts, buffer sizes, etc.  If you’ve been looking for a Windows recording solution that takes advantage of the speed and power of Thunderbolt, with tons of I/O, this is a must-watch!

 

 

It’s #PreSonusFAMFriday with John Bastianelli!

The one and only John Bastianelli combines talent, charisma, drive, fun, smarts and know-how perfectly here at PreSonus! Thankfully so–he’s one of the masterminds behind the Quantum 2 and he’s here to tell us all about it! It’s #PreSonusFAMFriday with John Bastianelli.

 
How long have you worked for PreSonus? 
7.5 years.
What’s your official job title? 
Executive Vice President of Product Management.

What’s your favorite thing about your job? Why did you choose to work here?

The 3 “Ps” & C, Products, People, Passion & Culture, being part of the PreSonus team and working with awesome, talented people to create ground breaking products – it doesn’t get any better than this as far as I’m concerned. I love my job and consider the folks I work with my friends, not to mention there are so many talented musicians in our company. I get to record and play music with them too.
Choose a movie title for the story of your life.
What was the first 8 track, cassette, CD or digital download you purchased?
It was a vinyl record actually: John Coltrane’s Blue Train.
Who’s your go to band or artist when you can’t decide on something to listen to?
Bill Evans, the jazz piano player.
What’s your go to Karaoke song?
“Every Breath You Take,” Police.  I always like to belt out the bridge as I sing like crap and totally annoy everyone straining to hit those high notes, that’s the purpose of Karaoke as far as I’m concerned, right? 😉

 

Everyone has a side gig, what’s yours?
Playing, producing and writing music.

What instruments do you play?
Saxophone, flute, clarinet… I’m a horrible keyboard player.
What do you love about the Quantum 2?
I’ve been involved in product development for many years and the Quantum is by far the best audio interface I’ve ever worked on/with and slept with at any price point! 😉 The sound quality, ease of use, and lack of latency has finally made working “inside the box” as easy as the old days of analog recording. It doesn’t get any better this. This one product has inspired me to get back into making music again, even when I get home after a 12 hour day at the office, it calls my name from afar!

Why did you choose this as your favorite?
Simply put, this product inspires me to be creative, makes me want to make music and sounds amazing—recording an alto saxophone can be difficult as there are a lot of high frequencies that are difficult to reproduce/capture unless you have high quality mic pres and converters, the Quantum and Quantum 2 capture my sound perfectly and makes me sound great. I practically like the Quantum 2 because of the size and portability and I don’t need more than 4 mic pres.

Got any tips for working with the Quantum 2

Plug it into your Thunderbolt port, open Studio One or your favorite app and hit record, then watch what happens!

What are you currently working on? What’s next for you?
A Thunderbolt Flux Capacitor… Super exciting!
What’s the strangest talent you have?
What’s strange to you might not be strange to me and visa versa…
Anything else you want to share? 
Fun times are ahead at PreSonus, can’t wait for the market to see what we have in store for you in 2018 and beyond!

Connect with John on LinkedIn here!

Learn more about the Quantum 2 here! 

Introducing PreSonus Quantum—Our Fastest Interface Yet.

Every design decision during Quantum’s engineering was made with one goal in mind: speed. PreSonus Quantum sports high-speed Thunderbolt connectivity and a no-frills, direct-to-daw architecture, with no DSP. The result is our leanest, fastest, lowest-latency interface to date.

Click here for the full story.

 

Audiophile-grade digital converters, low-jitter clocking, and recallable preamps add up to a superior recording and listening experience. The Quantum operates at up to 192 kHz for ultra-high-definition mixing and recording. High-quality converters on every input and output provide 120 dB of dynamic range to capture complex musical harmonics smoothly and naturally with no audible distortion. And our recallable XMAX Class A analog microphone preamps deliver incredibly high headroom, deep lows, smooth highs, and a rich overall sound so you’ll hear every breath, transient, and detail in your recordings.

Cutting-edge 24-bit, 192 kHz converters with 120 dB of dynamic range and a surprising amount of expandability and software control options round out the package.