[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.
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!
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 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.
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!
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!
[KK Proffitt is the chief engineer, musical editor and creative talent of JamSync. She has earned several degrees and honors in undergraduate and graduate school including a BA from Vanderbilt, completed coursework for the Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology at the University of Tennessee (where she was inducted into the honors society Phi Kappa Phi), Guitar Performance Studies and Arranging at Berklee, and a graduate degree in Software Engineering from Northeastern’s State of the Art Engineering School. KK is an active member of the Audio Engineering Society.]
There aren’t a lot of women in the studio because a lot of men don’t want them to be there. There are exceptions, but the invisible burqa persists, and I’m disappointed that there hasn’t been much progress. My daughter designs games and women in games are much sharper and more up front than women in audio. I’m not sure they are making progress, either, but at least they’re honest about it. Women in the audio area try so hard to fit in when fitting into a mold that doesn’t work for them is really futile. I just built my studio, raised my children and ignored the other stuff. I wish I had more time to spend at my studio, but my elderly mother totaled her car last March and I’ve had to take over running the family farm (150 years old), selling her property, seeing to her medical care, etc. It’s one more reason why women like me have to take time off from career. After being mothers, we become caregivers. Everyone only gets 24 hours a day and a lot of us are supposed to fit 48 hours worth of work into that slot. Solve the child care/ caregiver issue, and you’d see a lot more women in audio. As it is, many of the successful women audio engineers either don’t have children or go on sabbatical to have them.
The only job where gender has been a factor is the one where I carried twins and then raised them to become a molecular biophysicist (my son) and a game designer (my daughter.) My mother was a biochemist, my grandmother was a magistrate, and my great-grandmother was superintendent of county schools, so the concept of being a woman with a career was not novel in my family. It was just confusing that the news, the school systems and nearly everyone I encountered on any job that involved technology seemed to reinforce a lifestyle ethic that was out of some dreary “Kinder, Küche, Kirche” belief. I ignored it, of course, but it certainly didn’t help me to obtain clients or money to feed, clothe, educate and house my children. Fortunately, my children are smarter than I am and would rather be nibbled to death by ducklings than work in the music biz.
I tend to stay away from the “female audio engineer” ghetto. It does nothing to bring me business and frankly I don’t mix or master with my gender-specific parts. I’ve had no mentors, male or female, but lots of men who have tried to discourage me or separate me from the simple business of audio by trying to make me feel special. I’m not special because I was born female. I’m simply good at what I do, when I’m actually allowed to do what I do. There is no doubt I would have made a lot more money in the biz if I had been a male, but I have never wanted to be a male because I don’t think of myself as male or female when I work. I just listen and respond to the job at hand.
PreSonus is committed to providing real solutions to music educators at all levels. Whether it’s recording a kindergarten class and uploading songs to Nimbit for parents to download, running live sound and recording a high school jazz band in performance, or outfitting music technology and audio labs for universities, PreSonus has the products and knowledge to support all educators. We are working with the National Association for Music Education, the Technology Institute of Music Education, and the NAMM Foundation’s Support Music Coalition to ensure our strategies meet the needs of the teachers in the field.
The mission of PreSonus for Music Education is to provide high-quality audio products and continued support to all music educators and students in order to promote learning reflective of current and evolving practices in the fields of music education and the music industry. We offer sessions at the major state music conferences, webinars through NAfME and the SoundTree Institute, and educator-specific product bundles with school pricing.
For more information on how PreSonus can support your school, please visit our website: musiced.presonus.com.
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Hey PreSonus!
My new CD, Mixture, was recorded with Studio One 2.5, has spent five weeks on the CMJ top 40 charts, peaking at number 9 alongside other jazz greats like Lee Rittenour, Chick Corea, Marcus Miller and Diana Krall. We’re getting many great reviews!
One of the powerful tools we used in producing this record is the PreSonus Studio One. My co-writer and co-producer Tom Rule used Studio One for his demo keyboard tracks at his home studio. When we brought the tracks in to my pro studio, Shadow Sound Studio, to finish adding real instruments and mix and master, I fell in love with many of the sounds included with of Studio One. In particular, we loved the stand-up bass sound that shipped with Studio One so much, that we actually left it on the record and never had a live bass player come and replace the MIDI. I have now made Studio One part of my studio tools and of course use PreSonus for my jazz band’s live performances.