PreSonus is honored to support all efforts by first responders and health care workers across the globe during this odd, hard time.

Last month, we had the opportunity to sponsor an event called “Band Together NOLA” for a virtual, live-streamed festival with more than 20 acts!

PJ Morton, Tank and the Bangas, Jon Cleary and more New Orleans’ musical heavy hitters played an online benefit festival to raise relief funds for the city’s musicians who have been out of work during the COVID-19 pandemic. So far, over $40,000 has been raised!

The Band Together virtual festival also featured Ivan Neville, Kermit Ruffins, Galactic’s Stanton Moore, Nigel Hall, Cupid, Dawn Richard, Water Seed, Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes, Sean Ardoin, Flow Tribe, Glen David Andrews, Hasizzle, Shane Theriot, Elizabeth Lyons, Fermin Ceballo, Bruce “Sunpie” Barnes, Kelly Love Jones, LeTrainiump, and Caren Green.

Our friend, Steve Himelfarb, was the engineer for six of the acts using a StudioLive 32 and Studio One Professional. We took some time to talk about his experience with the live stream and his career.

Before we get started here are four fun facts about Steve:

• He owns New Orleans Cake Cafe and Bakery off Chartres Street. He got his start in pastry selling them door to door–he literally baked the cakes and sold them by the slice to his neighbors. This grew into a cake shop in the French Quarter that ran for several years, and now a storefront cake shop, bakery, and restaurant.
• One of Steve’s first jobs was at Capitol Records in LA. His job was to digitize old tapes from the 40s and 50s. Nat King Cole, Sinatra, etc. This is where he recognized the magic of making music and fell in love with it.
• One of the first artists he worked with was none other than Shelia E! While they were working on her sound and style in the studio, Prince would call to check in on how she was doing.
• During the COVID-19 crisis, not only has Steve shared his audio engineering talent for this benefit, but he also donated over 250 meals a day for six weeks to multiple local hospital first responders. He along with his wife, Becky, and small staff prepared the meals and delivered the meals daily! What a guy!

Our interview with Steve follows.

Tell us about Band Together NOLA. How did it come to be? What was your role? 

New Orleans is known for its tourism, food, and of course live music. The pandemic has put much of that to a halt which has left musicians our of work. The Band Together Online Benefit Concert took place on April 25 and helped New Orleans musicians whose livelihoods have been decimated by the COVID-19 pandemic. I am a part of multiple non-profits, and serving the community has always been something that I strive to do no matter where I live or what job I have. I was approached with the opportunity to participate with Lou Hill and Kermit Ruffins, it was a no-brainer. I was in!

Sounds like a huge undertaking. Did you know what you were getting into before you got started? 

Yes and no. I had taken a break from the audio industry to focus on several other projects. Three years ago, my childhood friend, Tori Amos, had a show in New Orleans. From the stage, she says, “I’d like to thank the person responsible for me being here… Thank you Steve!” From that moment on, I knew I wanted to get back into recording and producing music and saying “Yes” to whatever opportunities came my way. Getting back into audio after a 20-year hiatus was like learning a whole new language that sounded familiar. Everything was the same but what changed was the technology. So, yes, it did seem like a huge undertaking but I was up and willing for the challenge.

What PreSonus gear was used? 

We used a PreSonus StudioLive 32, multiple PX-1 mics and Studio One Professional, of course.

After watching the live stream, it looks like you recorded in multiple locations. How challenging was it recording in multiple locations? 

We recorded six bands, all on the fly. Each band did a few songs, then we had a soundcheck for the next band all while doing our best to keep social distance guidelines. It was super hectic and everything was happening so fast. The onboard EQ and limiters on the 32 were AMAZING! We had no problem at all. This was very important and there was no room for a hiccup because everything was moving so fast. Once one band left, we had to wash down the stage and all the cables and mics to get ready for the next band to arrive. With the StudioLive 32, it was really a best-case scenario. Set up was easy, no distortion at all, the mixes sounded great.

What’s something you learned about live streaming?

With these harsh conditions and because everything is happening so fast, you have to be able to trust the gear you’re using. Be prepared, make sure the equipment is working, and use PreSonus.

Follow the New Orleans Cake Cafe and Bakery on Facebook! 

Add Studio One to your workflow NOW for 30% off!

Studiolive owners in the New York area—this one’s for you! Come and join us at this exclusive, free event. Space is VERY limited (40 people tops) so get your ticket via the form below!

John Tendy will showcase the latest in PreSonus’ StudioLive Ecosystem, which includes the new Series III Mixers, StudioOne and the AIR and ULT Loudspeakers. John will demonstrate how each component works together to give musicians, engineers, and producers the ultimate live and studio recording experience. Urban folk & jazz artist KJ Denhert and her band will be the musical guests.

Guests include:

John Tendy—Sax:

John Tendy is the owner of TendyMedia, a production service that specializes in filming and multi-tracking of acoustic musical ensembles at live venues and in-house. In addition to producing, John has experience in film editing, musical composition, stage direction, comedy writing and voice-over work. As a television composer, he has written national spots for Disney, ATT, Mattel, White Castle, Sonic and more. John works nightly as a jazz and saxophonist, klezmer clarinetist, has performed on Broadway and can be seen regularly with his jazz trio at the historic Showmans Jazz in Harlem, NY.

KJ Denhert—Vocals:

KJ Denhert’s special blend of urban folk & jazz has earned her seven Independent Music Award nominations, was named as one of Jazz.com’s top female vocalists and in 2012 was the grand prize winner in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest. KJ has been the artist in residence 11 times at Italy’s Umbria Jazz Festival. She has appeared at scores of festivals and has residencies at the ’55 Bar, Smoke in NYC, the Baz Bar in St. Barth’s, and the prestigious Umbria Jazz Festival in Italy. KJ’s talents have taken her all over the world, including St Barthelemy in the French West Indies, where she has had a winter residency at the popular Baz Bar for nearly a decade. Consistently praised for her pathos, originality and impeccable musicianship, KJ is a one-of-a-kind songwriter, guitarist and performer, not to be missed. She stays relevant to blues, jazz, singer songwriter and folk music, winning awards in all categories and I currently recording a new CD, due for release in fall of 2017.

Jesse Murphy—Bass:

NYC bassist Jesse Murphy is described by Bass Musician as a “classically trained bassist-turned-Fender-ninja”. Murphy played with John Scofield on his CD, “Uberjam” and enjoyed a stint with Me’Shell Ndgeocello. His work on the title track of the Brazilian Girls’ “Talk to the Bomb” is nothing short of astonishing and his unique style has been described as a combination of James Brown and avant-garde chamber music. Jesse is also a member of the “Love Trio”, a band that sprang directly out of the Nublu Club scene in NYC.

Aaron Johnston—Drums

Verve recording artist, percussionist and drummer Aaron Johnston is best-known for being the polyrhythmic heartbeat and producer of the Grammy-nominated band Brazilian Girls, A “remarkably fluid drummer,” as the New York Times has dubbed him, Aaron’s skills have as a writer, produce and engineer have made him one of Latin and American music’s most sought after collaborators. The Brazilian Girls have released three albums on Universal Verve Records, garnering a Grammy nomination for Best Electronic Dance Album, critical acclaim from Rolling Stone and SPIN, tour dates with Sting and festival slots from Bumbershoot to Bonarroo, Coachella and Lollapalooza. In addition to his percussion work, Johnston has contributed to a number of film scores, including Paramount’s OKA Amerikee, a film based on the music of the Bayaka tribe in Africa. Aaron was featured in the May 2017 issue of Modern Drummer.

We’re excited to introduce you to the PreSonus StudioLive Series III FAMILY!

We’re going LIVE on Facebook and YouTube tomorrow at 2 pm CST to discuss everything there is to know about the 32, 24 and 16 mixers! Get your questions ready for us! VP of Sales, Rick Naqvi and Papa Beard and Sr. Project Manager, Ray Tantzen will be hosting and taking your questions.

Yes, there will be prizes. RAD PRIZES. Don’t miss out.

Follow us on Facebook and YouTube and turn on your notifications so you won’t miss the show!

Like our Facebook Page here!

Watch on YouTube here!

JOIN US IN NASHVILLE!

In this free presentation, PreSonus’ Rick Naqvi (VP of Sales) and Arnd Kaiser (General Manger, PreSonus Software) will take you through basic and advanced production in Studio One 3. We‘ll show off the latest in PreSonus hardware and software integration. The new PreSonus studio monitors will be on hand to listen to, and we’ll have two hands-on workstations for attendees!

Lastly, we’ll also be showing some brand new things in the latest release of Studio One along with a few surprises! We’ll have the Studio 192, DP88, R Series Monitors, and MTM Monitors on-hand. One attendee gets a Studio 192 Mobile!

It’s always exciting to see where PreSonus gear shows up all over the world through social media and other various ways. But when PreSonus shows up at the biggest, most watched sporting event of the year, we can’t help but share!  Here’s what PreSonus fan and sound reinforcement engineer Vic Thomas had to say about using PreSonus StudioLive at the the big game last week!

“The PreSonus StudioLive was used by the NFL Network at their Digital Media Set, The Huddle, in Super Bowl City,” says Vic. “Our set was located at Justin Herman Plaza in the heart of Super Bowl City in downtown San Francisco. We were one of four sights that did interactive hits back to NFL Network’s control room at Culver City for integration into all there social networking channels.”

On set, the large crowd proved to create somewhat of a challenge. With 34 years of experience, Thomas knew exactly what to do. “We had up to four talents on set, using RF microphones, which had to be routed directly to Culver City to be mixed into the show. The XMAX preamps proved to be vital, as I had to send each microphone, with no EQ or processing. For this I used the direct out function of the insert point of each channel. The quality and headroom of the preamps handled the changes of the talent’s levels masterfully. You can imagine with the cheering crowds behind them how their levels fluctuated.”

Thomas goes on to say, “I also had four mix minus, IFB feeds coming to me from Culver City. An IFB feed is an Interruptible Fold Back that is fed to the talent via an earpiece so they can hear program minus themselves, as well as the producer in Culver City directing them. You can probably call it an in-ear monitor mix with a cueing function.”

“The StudioLive proved great for this as I could mix each individual IFB to the talent’s taste and send it to their IFBs using the group outs. This gave me the option of having compression and EQ on each incoming feed. This was critical, as I needed to safeguard each of the talents’ hearing. They appreciated that.”

Thomas’s experience in San Fransisco highlights the ease of use and versatility of the StudioLive family. “The StudioLive made a long week very easy and definitely made my job a lot less complicated.”

PreSonus day is coming to Empire Pro Audio​ on Wednesday, November 18!

You’ll learn basic mixing techniques with UC Surface and the CS18AI control surface, EQ and dynamics, signal routing, and how to replace that clumsy analog snake with a digital AVB snake!

Click here to learn more and register.

Click here to register! 

Johnny Geib is a longtime PreSonus forum honcho and all-around brand ambassador. He’s an authority on home recording, particularly with Studio One and the StudioLive mixers. While he’s known for his YouTube video series and Skype lessons, his IMSTA FESTA talk will be is a great opportunity to learn from Johnny firsthand. Here’s a quick course overview of what you can expect to learn:

• Color options for both the Background and tracks
• Console and Folder syncing improvements
• The Browser – Thumbnails, Search Options
• Presence XT Soundsets (demoing sounds)
• Multi Instruments Demo
• Control Link

• Creating a drum track (using the loop library)
• Recording Acoustic guitar
• Creating a Bass track (using the Mai Tai)
• Laying a vocal
• Melodyne – Correcting the pitch issues
• Melodyne – Creating a harmony

• From Song page to Project page
• Mastering our song
• Mastering multiple songs
• Publishing
• Questions and answers

Visit his site at www.homestudiotrainer.com or hit him up on Twitter @JohnnyTheMuzic.

The International Music Software Trade Association (IMSTA), an international non-profit organization hosts IMSTA FESTA in Chicago on Saturday, July 25, 2015 at SAE Institute, 820 N. Orleans Street, Chicago. IMSTA’s principal mission is to conduct public education about piracy in the music software space.

The FREE event is open to music makers of all genres and levels including songwriters and music technology professionals, semi- professionals, amateurs, hobbyists, students and educators. Take master workshops, experience new products, network with industry pros.

Aspiring songwriters in any genre are invited to enter a songwriting contest by July 4, 2015. Chicago regional winners announced at IMSTA FESTA. Click here to learn more about contest rules or how to enter radio ready songs. Winner of the International song competition will have the chance to win a FREE trip to BlackRock Studios in Santorini, Greece.

Chris Tsanjoures

Rational Acoustics Smaart Basics Course Coming to PreSonus HQ in Baton Rouge, Aug. 10-11—Sign up here

Our good friend Chris Tsanjoures from Rational Acoustics will be in Baton Rouge to teach his Smaart Basics class at the PreSonus world headquarters on August 10 and 11. The class is open to the public – so if you’ve been wanting to step up your audio game using the full Smaart v.7 software  – this is an opportunity that you do not want to miss. For the uninitiated, Smaart is a dual-channel, FFT-based software platform we use in our work as audio engineers to view the frequency content of signals or measure the response of our loudspeaker systems. If you’ve used the RM or StudioLive software control applications, you’ve already had a glimpse at some very basic Smaart Measurement Technology features – now is your chance to start using Smaart v.7 like a Pro!

The Smaart Basics class curriculum covers the configuration, operation, and fundamental concepts of RTA, Spectrograph, Transfer Function and Impulse Response measurements. At the completion of the course, each attendee will have been given a functional knowledge of how Smaart operates as a tool and how to use it to perform essential system engineering tasks such as loudspeaker equalization, delay systems alignment, subwoofer alignment/arraying, multi-position live averaging and much much more.

Oh, and in true PreSonus tradition, we’ll see to it that every attendee will be well-fed.

Date/Time

Monday August 10, 2015 – Tuesday August 11, 2015
9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Registration: http://www.rationalacoustics.com/events/baton-rouge-la-2/#register
Course description: http://www.rationalacoustics.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/NEWSmaart-Basics6.15.pdf

Location

PreSonus Audio Inc.
18011 Grand Bay Court
Baton Rouge, LA United States 70809

About the Instructor: Chris Tsanjoures is a Product Manager at Rational Acoustics. This puts him in a unique position to split his time between the development of the Smaart Platform, and training folks on the use and theory behind it. Chris holds a BA in Music Production & Technology from the Hartt School of Music and is an active freelance sound engineer for various production companies throughout the North East.