PreSonus Blog

Mix Why You Should Hate Snakes and What you Should do About Them


Mix
recently ran a fascinating piece on exterminating pests. Not nutria or bollweevil, but pesky snakes, who have continued to envenom audio production despite our release of Virtual StudioLive and QMix. We’re trying our best, and appreciate Mix calling attention to the good fight!

Here’s a snippet:

“I work in live sound, and I’m done with audio snakes. No, I don’t mean I’ve switched from copper to Cat 5. I mean that I’m done, totally, forever. And my mixer? I have one, but you won’t see it. It’s behind the stage. And my iPad? No, I’m not playing Angry Birds, I’m mixing the band from the best seat in the house, right next to my wife and kids. I don’t even think about monitors anymore, the band takes care of them on their own. And because there’s no snake, stage racks or separate monitor system, everything takes less than 20 minutes to set up. Just put the mixer near the stage, connect the band and powered speakers, and go. Even crazier, an entire system for a 600-seat venue can fit in a Honda Civic. Oh, did I mention I’m doing all of this with a $1,999 mixer and some free apps? Welcome to the future of portable sound.”

Hop over to Mix for the full article!

Derrick Jeror is the founder of Housetop Media in Corning, N.Y., where he specializes in system design for houses of worship.

Rick’s Video Blog: Setting Up a StudioLive with an iPad and Mac Mini

Apple fanboy Rick Naqvi should probably be hitting up Tim Cook for a sales commission.  Here, he extolls the virtues of the iPad and Mac Mini… but it doesn’t end there. This isn’t just another “Wireless control of the StudioLive via iPad” video. This is something else. This has bells and whistles.

First, Rick sets up his Mac Mini to auto-launch VSL on boot. So, assuming proper connections and having everything powered up, his Mac Mini will auto-connect to his StudioLive seconds within powering up.

But keep watching… it gets real interesting. Via the iPad, Rick uses VNC Mocha Lite to connect to his Mac Mini desktop: no monitor required! This configuration allows you to run and interface with both VSL Remote and also access Capture or Angry Birds during the show. Rick keeps it simple and thorough at the same time—but you might wanna make sure you know what an IP address is before viewing.

Bobby Duthu’s Drum Recording Techniques

Bobby Duthu and PreSonus

This just in from Bobby Duthu, PreSonus enthusiast, recordist, pro drummer, and all around great guy! He had posted some photos to our Facebook album of user studios of his home studio that piqued my interest… so I checked in with him and found him very open to sharing some of the methods to his madness.

Hey, Ryan!

Thanks for the kind words and also for the compliment of posting me on your site and blog. My rig is simple really. My interface consists of two FireStudio Projects daisy-chained together, resulting in 16 available mic inputs for ease of drum set miking. For software, I use Studio One Artist on a MacBook Pro. 

My drum set recording techniques are also fairly simple, actually. My studio room is 30×20, very live-sounding, and features a 6-piece Sonor Designer Series drum set and Paiste 2002 cymbals.

I start by making a determination of how the drums should sound based on the particular song being tracked. I like to begin this process by attempting to achieve the desired sound acoustically, and slowly add effects if necessary. If effects are needed, I take full advantage of any number of plug-ins and/or sends included in Studio One Artist, like reverb and compression for example, but the emphasis remains on the acoustic sound of the drums.

Tuning and mic placement are of course vitally important to this process, although other factors do contribute. For example, drum head selection and striking technique can greatly affect the sound of a drum as well. Where miking is concerned, I prefer double-headed toms with mics placed a minimum of an inch and a half from the top drum head and at about a 45 degree angle.
For snare drum, I use one mic top and bottom, and for bass drum, mics about 3 inches from each side of the batter head. I also find overheads and room mics in various configurations to be invaluable. To maximize my choice of mic configurations, I use two Presonus FireStudios daisy-chained together allowing a total of 16 available inputs, which comes in very handy for drum set miking. 
After that, it’s all about playing technique which can affect the drum set sound as profoundly as effects in some instances. This is yet another area for which Studio One has an answer with it’s extremely flexible metronome settings. I find the swing settings to be very helpful when looking for just the right feel.
Ultimately, in my experience, most producers and engineers prefer as raw of a drum track as possible, with minimal effects and EQ. This allows more flexibility for the engineer to the overall track, which in the end should collectively be our most important consideration.
The simplicity and efficient design of my PreSonus interfaces, along with Studio One, allow me to achieve my goals by helping me to remain less focused on tech support and more focused on performance!

Have a great weekend!

Bobby Duthu

Bobby is a pro session drummer in Nashville. If you need some drums on your next record, or would like to tap into his network of talented studio cats, hit him up!

 

 

 

 

You Know Where To Find the StudioLive 16.0.2

Imogen Heap is staggeringly talented. Her new HeapSong is check-out-able over YouTube. HeapSongs are created by Imogen in an impromptu manner by compiling fan-submitted “sound seeds,” AKA audio samples. Beautiful!

Oh, and notice the PreSonus StudioLive 16.0.2 front and center!

Scott Van Heldts New Single Mastered in Studio One

Don’t tell him about the stolen drum stool or he’ll fall!

Members of White Zombie, HEAD, and Cirque du Soliel to release Black Sunshine cover on Halloween—Mastered in Studio One Professional 2!

Los Angeles, CA, 9-14-12— In celebration of the 20th anniversary of the release of White Zombie’s ground breaking album La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Volume I, original White Zombie drummer Ivan de Prume along with Scott “SVH” Von Heldt (former guitarist/vocalist for Brian “Head” Welch ex-Korn, Love and Death), and Cirque du Soliel violinist Martin St. Pierre are slated to release a cover of the White Zombie classic Black Sunshine under the moniker of HEALER.

The song was recorded during sessions for an intended EP that was to be the groups followup to their highly acclaimed debut album Awakening, which showcased a unique blend of Metal and World music. “We started covering Thunderkiss ‘65 and Black Sunshine in our live set and the vibe was very fresh and original because of the violin and world elements we had as a band” stated Von Heldt. “When it came time to work on new material we recorded Black Sunshine just to get a feel for blending that raw Zombie element with our own original twist and in the end I think we ended up with a pretty kick ass version of an already classic metal track!”

Healer was formed in 2005 and toured briefly from 2005-2007 which included a stint on the Van’s Warped tour. They disbanded in 2008 with St.Pierre returning to Cirque du Soliel full-time and Von Heldt soon after joining Head (the solo band of the nicknamed former Korn Guitarist). In 2011 de Prume and Von Heldt reunited and have been working on material for a new Healer release which they hope will see the light of day by early 2013!

Black Sunshine will be available October 31st via iTunes, Spotify, and other online retailers! For now, you can stream it here:

New Frog Leap Videooooooo!

The delightfully goofball StudioLive and Studio One enthusiasts over at Frog Leap Studios have released another of their trademark acoustic-rock version of a familiar classic. Last time they checked in with us, we got the Frog Leap treatment of the Jackson 5ive hit, “Blame it on the Boogie.” and “Hey Ya,” before that.

Given this rich history, I was expecting a folky rendition of “Drop It Like It’s Hot,” or “All The Single Ladies,” but instead we get the following. Thanks guys!

Andrew Oye is on a Roll.

This just in from Andew Oye, who just got done kickin’ butt by using Studio One to score elements of a little programme called Monday Night Football. No big thang.

Hey guys!  I recently  scored a new reality travel series called Sky’s The Limit!’ 

Once again all the music is  done in PreSonus Studio One. Early on in pre-production before I switched to Studio One, I did one episode using the industry standard DAW… it was wayyyy to slow for me, especially when it came to rendering.

Since switching, my director is just thrilled with how everything sounds, and how quickly I can get the stuff done.

Thanks again, guys!”

Using Native Instruments’ THE MOUTH in Studio One 2

Native Instruments can seemingly do no wrong when it comes to compelling and original VSTs. One of their more recent endeavors is THE MOUTH, and enterprising YouTube accountholder  has posted a video detailing how to get THE MOUTH to talk the talk in Studio One 2.

Well, I say “detailing,” but at two minutes there’s technically not a lot of time detail… which is good. When it comes to workflow, we try to keep it simple. This isn’t the case so much with our attitude toward convolution reverbs, but I digress.

Here’s how to use your mouth.

A Closer Look at Asskan Studios

This just in From Jean-Jaque in Aalen, Germany! He runs Asskan Studios, where many PreSonus products have found a caring home. He sent some photos for me to put on our Facebook album of user studio photos, and I instead found them completely blogworthy. Jean-Jaque shares a few words:

Asskan started as a little home recording project. But perfectionism led to a complete little studio, with all the stuff I need. The studio was finished just about 6 months ago.

I searched for a recording solution with a analog-like usage that’s covering a wide range of requirements. I wanted to record mobile, for example in good sounding rooms, I wanted to record bands live, and most of the time, use it in my studio. The solution was the StudioLive 16.4.2. It gives me many channels of recording, great neutral preamps, and the opportunity of mixing my monitors, all in just one device. The HP60 was the perfect extension—now I can give all members of the band what they need in live recording situations.

I also use several pieces of outboard gear, and I’m a total microphone freak. The studio is equipped with a full drum set, guitar amps and many instruments. The combination especially of vintage gear and modern recording gear is what I like. I’m a singer and guitarist myself and so I understand the wish of recording a real 412 guitar-cabinet and not via VST…. although I’m using VST instruments as well. 🙂

With Studio One I’ve found a classic, but easy-to-use DAW with many time-saving features. And the FaderPort adds ease to my fader adjustments. I do not like to do  fine adjustments via the mouse, but also I searched for a controller with just one single control.

What I’d like to have? The Studio Channel could be a good follower for my actual outboard preamps.  Maybe the ADL600?!

Some of my recordings:
– Big Fish Audio: The Black Kit 
– My Band: SevenLies

Photos by Andy Nowakowski

 

All You Need to Know About the TubePre V2 in Two Videos

This just in from Fred!

“I received the TubePreV2 yesterday. Thanks! I just posted this unboxing video.”

“It’s a very nice unit. Guitar sounds great via DI. I’ll be producing a demo video within the next week or so showing DI and condenser mic use.”

Regards
-Fred”

But wait, there’s more! Shortly after we learned of the above video, Fred posted this gem, featuring an unusually scientific approach and professional presentation that we don’t always see in YouTube demos.

Much appreciated Fred. Best to ya!