The StudioLive AI Mixers, like many of our products great and small, ship with Studio One Artist. For a limited time, you’ll be able to upgrade the included copy from Studio One Artist to Studio One Producer for free. 

Both Studio One Artist and the upgrade to Studio One Producer are worth $99, so, that’s like getting $200 of free software. Studio One Producer includes significant feature upgrades from Artist, including MP3 import/export, virtual instrument support, and a whopping 16 gigs of bonus content.

I’m not sure how we greased this, but somehow we smooth-talked the sharp dudes at Groove3 to include their “StudioLive AI Hardware Explained” video series, a monster 47-part series that would ordinarily set you back fifty bucks. While that alone is a steal at around a dollar per video, we like to think that “free” is an even better deal.

This package will put you leaps and bounds ahead of the guy who buys a vanilla StudioLive AI mixer. With Studio One Producer and an exceptional training video series ready-to-go as soon as you open the box, you’ll be hitting the ground sprinting instead of running.

Interested? Click here to get the required rebate form, and then…

• Click here to find a dealer in the USA
• Click here to find an international dealer

Oh, and if you’re still on the fence about getting a StudioLive AI or not, this video might clear up some of your hesitations.

[This just in from Sean Ardoin, who recently released his tribute to Pharrell Williams’ “Happy,” recorded and produced in Studio One! I got in touch with Sean and got a little backstory on his experience with Studio One.]

I used to use another DAW and then I got exposed to Studio One. The reduction in click count made my workflow super fast, and it’s so super intuitive that I get stuff done without even thinking about it. My cousin in California who worked with me on this song is one of my converts to Studio One. He bought it, and this was the first time he used it to record. He said that he would be using it a lot more in the future because it was so easy to use. He sent me his waves, I put them back in my session, mixed it down, mastered it in the Project page, labeled everything, and uploaded to SoundCloud—ALL IN ONE SESSION!

This video comes to us from MasterSoundStudioGR. Check out this video on working with high gain guitars via Ampire XT in Studio One! You’ll get some tips on using Slate Digital Tools as well. If you’re interested in getting extra heavy with Ampire, you may be interested in the Ampire XT Metal Pack.

Looking to step up your game? Interested in cashing some of those pitch-perfect checks that Melodyne writes? Are you ready to heed the call of 3rd-party VST compatibility? Perhaps you’re ready to start mastering your own work using Studio One Professional’s Project page.

Well, there’s never been a better time than right ol’ now, because we’re offering 25% off of upgrades to Studio One Producer and Studio One Professional. For a complete look at which upgrade might be right for you, click here to view a feature-for-feature breakdown.

Let’s set aside prosaic marketing puffery for a moment and take a good, hard look at some nice, clean numbers.

If you were among the wise who picked up Studio One Artist for $5 during the Cinco de Mayo sale we had a while back (I think it was in early May), and you get the upgrade to Professional for the discounted price of $225, you’ve spent $230 for what would have cost you nearly $400 if  had you bought Studio One Professional as a standalone purchase at a time when we were feeling less charitable. That’s a total savings of $170, which is better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.

This deal is available for digital downloads at the shiny new online PreSonus shop. But, if you’re feeling analog, we won’t get in the way. If a boxed copy is more your speed, then our ever-lovin’ dealers are participating in our little discount-a-thon as well.

• If you’re in the US, click here to find a dealer.
• Folks outside the US can find a dealer by clicking here.

[This just in from Donyea via YouTube.  He’s put together a great video on mixing drums in Studio One that I really thought was worth a look and listen. Have at it!  He says he’s got more videos like these brewing, so why not take a second to head over to his channel and subscribe. ]

From Muskmesse 2014! Phil Van D from TOOMS and steadyb show you not only the magic of the Ampire XT Metal Pack, but also how easy it is to create nigh-instant remixes from your recordings—on the fly. CAUTION: heavy sounds ahead…

To get the Ampire XT Metal Pack, click here.

[This just in from good friend and four-star general in the war against the machines, Brian Botkiller! He shares his latest track, “Morphogenic Residents,” and details some of the methods to its particular brand of oddball. When not repairing his Buddy Holly glasses with gaff tape or tracking down elusive rhymes for “morphogenic residents” and “triskelian,” Brian Botkiller is one of the main guys at OBEDIA, who have been slingin’ their brand of world-class recording technology training to the masses for nigh on ten years now. Strongly recommended.] 

I usually record and mix/master in Studio One, but I don’t do a lot of virtual instrument work, so I wanted to do a track entirely in Studio One and explore it a bit more. MC Tahina is an old friend and part of one of my favorite bands of all time, The Gluey Brothers. He wanted to do a track together, so I had him come over to Botkiller studios. He showed up, and while walking him in I said, “I’ve got the drums set up, and you can plug your guitar into Studio One if you want.”  He said, “I’ve only got lyrics,” which I thought was awesome. So, we needed a beat. I opened up NI Battery and Impact, and laid down a quick beat, then did some overdubbing with my DDRUM Dominion kit. I wanted to fool with the timing on the audio and MIDI, so I quantized it in some crazy ways and got a cool groove out of it without having to do more work, because Studio One does everything in the blink of an eye.

Next, Tahina did his vocals. I plugged straight into my PreSonus FireBox, my favorite audio interface of all time, and gave him a click and headphone mix, and he just went for it. We had vocals in minutes. I then opened up some previously saved channel strip presets (another favorite S1 feature,) and had a vocal mix in no time. We then laid down the bass, using Native Instruments Kontakt. Tahina did those, on the fly, on a MIDI keyboard straight into Studio One. I did some edits here and there, quantized fast, and boom, bass done. Here’s some video:

I wanted something else in the track, so I took out my turntable, dropped a plate on it, ran it into my FireBox’s SPDIF input, and did some scratches. I’m no Mix Master Mike, but I really liked how they added to the track. We then sat down and just mixed organically,  with me laying down some light backing vocals and other little bits. He was really impressed with how fast Studio One allowed me to work. I got everything done fast, and then jumped into mastering in the Project pane, and my song was done.

This was great because the weeklybeats project (http://www.weeklybeats.com) requires me to write, produce, and record a song per week. It has to be turned in by Sunday at 6pm MST, and I really like the project. It’s not a competition or anything, but just a personal challenge—by the end of the year, I should have written 52 new songs! I wanted to do it to get myself into the practice of writing faster, and releasing fast, instead of agonizing over a track forever. It’s really opened my mind and made me work fast and be creative. This is why Studio One is always in my workflow; I can’t do fast production like this in any other DAW, hands down. It’s the fastest daw in the west, east, or anywhere else.

As always, thanks for what you do and for being awesome.
Hear the track below.

From Musikmesse 2014! The incomparable KATFYR describes the production of his #1 hit on the BeatPort dubstep charts, “Lose Control.”

Here, we take a look at his workflow and some of the methods to his madness. Pay attention, here’s a master at work!

• To listen to more KATFYR, click here
• To download the FREE 30-day demo of Studio One, click here

[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!

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?