PreSonus Blog

United States, June, 2012…  Summer camp is a ritual for kids and teens all across the U.S., and LifeWay Christian Resources is a familiar name for many of them. LifeWay hosts a wide range of multi-day summer camps at colleges and retreat centers throughout the nation, from recreation and Bible study for younger kids to workshops and mission-based camps for teens and young adults. As Josh Webb, LifeWay’s resident engineer and tech guru, explains, live music is a big part of the experience.

“There’s a lot of activities during the day, from team building to community service,” says Webb. “Then, in the evenings, there’s music. It’s usually a four- to six-piece band: full drum kit, bass, guitars, keyboards, and of course, vocals.”

For Webb, who coordinates sound and lighting for most of the camps, that means an ongoing routine that keeps him busy through the summer. “We’ll typically rent a facility for a few weeks during the summer, set up audio, lighting, and all that stuff; then we’ll load up the truck and move to another location,” he says.

Needless to say, it’s a big job keeping track of so many locations and crews, and LifeWay recently streamlined the process with the purchase of more than 30 StudioLive™ 24.4.2 digital consoles.

“Previously we had a whole bunch of different analog consoles,” says Webb. “We’d truck in our analog consoles, racks of gear, and cabling, and put it all together. Replacing them all with StudioLive consoles has been great on so many levels.”

click for hi-res image

The StudioLive’s fully integrated effects have really changed the equation, Webb reports.

“The PreSonus console is pretty much the heart of the audio system for us. We’ve literally got three or four warehouse palettes of compressors, limiters, and other outboard gear that we just don’t need anymore because everything’s built into the desk. It’s really lightened the load for the travel teams and has made setup and teardown a breeze.”

The StudioLive’s ease of use is another major asset. “It’s basically set up like an analog console, even though everything’s digital under the hood,” says Webb. “So the learning curve is almost nonexistent. They don’t have to run through pages and pages of menus – everything is accessible via the Fat Channel.”

Webb says they’ve only just begun to tap into the potential of the StudioLive’s capabilities. “We’ve got MacBooks^® or iMacs^® with every console, so we can do live recording via Capture™,” he says. “We’re using some of the tracks for a virtual sound check, especially in places where we’ve got multiple performances in the same place. It’s great for training people as well: We can have our newer engineers play back a multitrack recording and experiment with different dynamics and effects without the pressure and risk of doing it during a live show.”

“Eventually we’ll be implementing iPad^® control and QMix™ for the monitor mix,” he adds. “This first year, we’re just starting with iPad control for a few teams, just to get our feet wet. Basically, we’re telling our more tech-savvy people that if they already have an iPad, they can go ahead and check out the remote-mixing capability. The information will trickle down to the rest of the teams throughout the summer.”

With so many different crews to coordinate, having everyone on the same console is more than just a convenience, he adds. “It’s a great thing for me, in particular, since I’m the guy who has to troubleshoot the setups. The consistency of knowing that every setup is now using a StudioLive console makes my life that much easier.” Webb is presently putting together a knowledgebase, to enable the entire team of engineers to share notes and get the most out of the StudioLive.

“In the past, we’ve been relatively old school as far as the audio is concerned,” Webb concludes. “But we’ve always tried to push ourselves forward and find ways to do things better, faster, and more efficiently. And the StudioLive consoles have been a huge step forward.”

Out of the industrial-strength kindness of Ivan “Vigilante” Muñoz’ heart comes the below unsolicited slice of Studio One  praise.  While I never get tired of reading e-mails from folks who like our products, I have to confess that this image Ivan submitted is kind of a nice change of pace. Take a look:

Worth noting is that, to the best of my knowledge, no one’s ever sent Ivan one of our style guides, and I’m not sure where he got such nice, clean copies of our logos… but look at this thing, it’s like Ivan went to PreSonus design college. It’s grungy, high-contrast, features prominent product placement…  Dude kinda nailed it.

HEY BANDS: Are you looking to get endorsement relationships with the brands you love? Maybe you already have one? Take note—taking the initiative to produce stuff like what Ivan’s done above is a great way to keep those relationships strong.

Just sayin’, it’s not all free mixers and lollipops. Thanks, Ivan!

Drum Workshop is no joke. They make some of the most sought-after kits around with good reason: Quality construction begets quality tone.

So when the time comes to demo your high-quality drum kits, better be sure that you are dressed in the sonic equivalent of your Sunday best—spare no expense, like Dr. John Hammond said. So what do you do? Well, you get a roomfull of  first-call session cats, (Jaz Sawyer, Mika Fineo, Cobus Potgieter, Jordan Nuanez, and Jamal Moore ) and then you get a StudioLive 16.4.2 and a videocamera.

We’re flattered and thankful that DW chose none other than the PreSonus StudioLive 16.4.2 to render their drum sounds to disc for this video demoing the PDP Concept Series. Oh, and as long as everything was all miked up, they handled the voiceovers via the StudioLive as well.

The proof is in the pudding, howevs, so give a look/listen.

We are lucky to have Home Studio Corner in our… circle of advocates. Joe’s “cute little” FaderPort is connected to a 10-foot USB cable, which allows him to track his tracks while seated near his mic, and have immediate access to his transport controls when not next to his computer.

This allows him to record—and botch takes, which of course never happens—without having to set the guitar down, move the mic, get up, go to the computer, start the track over, go to the couch, sit down, grab the guitar, re-set up the mic, and play again every time he makes a mistake. Which he never does.

A very cool, if admittedly lonely solution for the solo recordist. Reminds me a little bit of this:

equal parts tasteless and rubbery

Part V: Video!

I’d like to talk a little bit about writing music for video in Studio One. I had to do a multimedia project at my university as an exam, so I made a short trailer-type video by using trailer from Ubisoft’s “Assassin’s Creed” video game, and I decided to score my own music for it using my orchestral template.

The process is pretty simple actually. All you need to do is import a video file in Studio One Video Player and it will automatically play whenever you click Play on the transport controls. (Studio One doesn’t have video tracks, by the way.) If you want to add marker positions for your video, you have to scroll through the video and place markers on the marker track when the appropriate scene shows in your video. I like to keep my transport bar count set to bars instead of frames, because when I am writing music for video I need to sync my music to it and still follow the proper musical­ beat.

I always take a look at the video cue a couple of times and think about what kind of music I am going to write for it. Then I start placing markers and name them to describe the scene that the video player is about to show.

Video Scoring

Placing markers is pretty much the same as in other DAWs. Find the place where you need to put marker, and click the “+” button on the left of the marker track, and you will see the marker tagged with a number on the marker track.You can rename the marker by double-clicking on it and typing in a name in the pop-up window.

Sometimes the time signature doesn’t fit the video, and you want the important scenes to change in a musically relevant manner, by following the time signature. Place a marker on that scene and right click above it and choose “set time signature.” The pop-up window will show and you can input your desired time signature. This is useful when syncing music to change right with the scene. For example: if your time signature is set to 4/4 and the scene is not changing exactly on the metronome’s beat, you will need to add or remove a couple of beats to perfect the timing. Here’s how the finished marker track looks after adding markers and time signature changes to the video:

Marker Track

Once you’ve done that, you are ready for some serious professional scoring.

I had a lot of fun with this project, and I am definitely seeing myself using PreSonus Studio One as my main DAW of choice from now on. Need I say that I’ve un-installed my other DAW I was using all these years? The guys from PreSonus are doing a great job with this and with some patches and new versions, StudioOne has a bright future in becoming the industry’s top DAW out there.

And feel free to visit my Youtube Channel. You can also listen to some of my tracks at Reverbnation and visit me on IMDb.

[Update! For your convenience, here’s the rest of the blogs in this series:

1. Part One: Intro and DAW setup
2. Part Two: Panning and placement of instruments
3. Part Three: EQ
4. Part Four: Reverb
5. Part Five: Video

Hi guys!

Here’s a couple of StudioLive 24.4.2 ” in the wild” pictures I thought you might like to see.  Red 13 PA (named after a Journey EP) is based here in the UK. This pic is of our rig at a festival for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee last weekend. At the end of the night we had around 1000 people going nuts in the marquee!

We engineered for 8 bands that day. Headliners were The Great Pretender, a Queen tribute act, and before that was New 2  (a U2 tribute), both are highly regarded over here. The marquee reputedly holds 1000 and it was packed later in the day. We’ve had very complimentary feedback from all the bands involved and the organisers, especially regarding the sound quality on stage… and FOH as well.  One of the organisers has put his review on Facebook.

Last autumn, PreSonus released V2 updates of our popular TubePre and BlueTube DP microphone/instrument preamps. With preamps so beloved, our intention wasn’t to completely re-create either of these products, but rather to refresh them and bring them more in-line with our current offerings.

PreSonus BlueTube V2

By now, most of our loyal customers are very familiar with our popular XMAX preamp design. This circuit is employed on nearly every current interface product and, of course, our award-winning StudioLive-series of digital mixers. A little known fact is that both the TubePre and BlueTube DP preamps use early versions of what would eventually become the XMAX microphone preamp. Over time, this circuit has been tweaked and perfected into the XMAX mic pre our customers know and love. The biggest change to both V2 models was to update their preamp circuits to the current XMAX design.

Because of the updated preamp design, both V2 models feature new extended Gain Ranges: -15dB to 85dB (Mic) / -30dB to 50dB (Inst) as compared to 0dB to 60dB on the older models. Another consequence of changing to the current XMAX preamp design is increased headroom.

PreSonus TubePre V2

The original TubePre featured a -20dB pad; however the XMAX design we use today offers so much headroom that attenuation pads are simply not necessary. With the TubePre V2, the pad was removed and an input select switch was added. This allows the user to leave both their microphone and instrument connected at the same time, making it an even more convenient tool for home recording enthusiast and professionals alike.

It should be mentioned that the version of the circuit in the BlueTube DP is closer to the current XMAX design in this regard. This is why the BlueTube DP had no attenuation pad to remove.

Other changes in the V2 models are as follows:

• Both V2 Models also feature a new VU Meter design that is more brightly lit than either V1 model.
• Both V2 models feature a new industrial design that adheres more closely to our current products.
• Both V2 models were given a new lower profile power supply to free up valuable surge protector real estate.
• The orientation of the BlueTube DP’s Tube Drive and Gain controls was changed to match the Tube Pre (Tube Drive on the left, Gain on the right) for consistency and ease of use for those customers who purchase both products.

We hope you all enjoy employing these products as much as we enjoyed engineering them! Please feel welcome and encouraged to share your recordings featuring these products on our Facebook wall.

Hi Ryan!

We didn’t choose the name “StudioLive” arbitrarily. The whole point is that the idea of mutual exclusivity between “studio” and “live” environs is becoming something of an anacronism. This is a paradigm shift which we endorse wholeheartedly.

Case, meet point. This is CRUSH, performing “Faithfully,” recorded live in a modest practice space.  But it doesn’t sound live, it sounds like a studio sesh. Get it? We’re impressed, and you think you will be too.

Note that any similarity between “Faithfully” and the music linked below is likely unintended—but pretty hilarious.

Check out this great story from MI7 Japan!

“In live concerts, there are improvisational aspects that cannot be captured in studio recordings. We had a chance to speak with Nobumasa Yamada, known for his works with Love Psychedelico, about his passion in recording these live concerts and his techniques using PreSonus mobile recording gear. Mr. Yamada shared how he built his system, the actual set-up and some techniques, based on the recording of Kemono held in Ogikubo Velvet Sun.”

Read the full article here.