[This just in from Graham Cochrane, Grand Mixologist and WhizAdult over at The Recording Revolution. He put Studio One 2.5 Professional’s mastering features into an opinion toaster, and a few minutes later this tasty, crispy review video popped out. Dig in, but bacon is extra.]

Hey PreSonus…

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.

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!

International Sales Director of Mystery Mark Williams was able to obtain these top-secret photos; surriptitously shot with his astonishing 8-megapixel suit-button camera.

His now-declassified mission primarily focused on softening a problematic Russian Pork embargo during Sao Paulo’s 2012 Global Customs Forum. Word from our contacts at MI6 is that once again, Mark Williams’ intercontinental powers of seduction have proved limitless, as PreSonus forum users in Brazil have suddenly had very little to complain about.

His Mission: Complete, Mark gathered surveillance of the ExpoMusic show, where suspicions were confirmed: PreSonus partners at QUANTA Brasil are doing an exceptional job.

See below evidence.

The radicool guys at WinkSound are doing some celebrating for us—as if we didn’t know how to do that already.

In order to help ring in PreSonuSphere 2012 this weekend, WinkSound has teamed up with PreSonus to give away a studio bundle including:

• 1 copy of PreSonus Studio One 2 Professional
• 1 PreSonus AudioBox 22VSL audio interface 
• 1 SoundCloud Pro Account

It’s really easy to enter:

1. Subscribe to WinkSound on YouTube.
2. Send an email with a link to your YouTube profile to Wink@WinkSound.com.

PART 4: Reverb!
Now, the most difficult and most-discussed theme on orchestral composition forums is applying reverbs. This is the most important part of the orchestral mixing process as far as I’m concerned. I’ve watched and listened to loads of tutorials and lectures on reverbs for orchestra—which one is better? Why?. There is a lot of controversy on impulse response reverbs vs. algorythmic reverbs. Whatever you pick, the most important thing is that it sounds good to you. My main reverb is Altiverb and sometimes I use Lexicon PCM Native. Here’s how I apply them to my orchestra sections:

Every section has its own reverb that processes it. I like to use Altiverb’s IRs of stages like Todd-AO or FOX Scoring Stage. I like the fact that it has three different mic positions that were used to capture the impulse responses, so I can use them on individual close-miked sections of the orchestra. There are three IR patches of wide mic setups that I use. The closest one is for strings, the middle one is for brass and woodwinds, and the farthest one is for percussion and choir. I apply very little reverb on close mic sections just to give them air, and I apply more of it to stage mic sections to give them room.

Close Reverb

Here’s an example of proper reverb settings using Lexicon PCM Native:
I use two instances of Lexicon. The first one is for close mic setup with a very small pre-delay and short reverb time. I use only 50% of the mix.

Lexicon Close

The second instance emulates stage and far-miked setups, which requires a sizeable pre-delay and long reverb time. Its mix is set to 100%.

Lexicon Far

If I have a solo vocalist in my session, I usually use any vocal plate preset for it.
This covers the reverb for the orchestra. Next up we’ll look at using the Studio One Video Player for scoring.

[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

Las Vegas, NV, June 2012…  Join PreSonus for a very special live webcast, direct from the InfoComm Show in Las Vegas.