PreSonus Blog

Tag Archives: StudioLive 16.4.2


Hero’s Last Mission on the StudioLive 16.4.2

The kind sports at Hero’s Last Mission put together this exceptional video describing their workflow with the StudioLive 16.4.2. They are using the board to its fullest in both the studio and onstage, taking advantage of features like QMix personal monitoring and scene recall for saving board settings appropriate to multiple venues. Furthermore, they record live shows to Capture and then mix later in Studio One!

Hero’s Last Mission is taking advantage of the full PreSonus solution. Are you?

#TeamPreSonus Spotlight: Paul Peters!

[We decided it best to give some recognition to our more vocal advocates—and what better way than via a blog series?]

Who are you, where are you, and what do you do? 

Paul Peters, FOH/IEM (in-ear monitor) engineer, producer, songwriter, and performer. I’m also a PreSonus artist.
How were you introduced to PreSonus?
My experience with PreSonus started in 2008, when a church in Merritt Island, FL wanted to get a small compact console for their satellite campus.  I did research and loved the PreSonus StudioLive 16.4.2. I ordered the console, installed it, and began a love affair with PreSonus that is still strong. On multiple tours over the past five years, I was contacted by the band A Day To Remember in 2009, because the IEM system they were using failed.  I suggested the PreSonus 24.4.2.  They purchased the console and flew me to Ocala, FL to tweak it out for them.  They loved it, and I was soon hired to be their FOH/IEM engineer for two tours. After tens of thousands of miles, and countless shows, the mixer is still running strong.  Because of the quality and reliability, the PreSonus StudioLive family has been the first suggestion I make to touring bands, clubs, or houses of worship.  I have also been on tour with Sick Puppies, We Came as Romans, Otherwise, and Papa Roach.
What PreSonus software/hardware do you use and for what purpose?
Personally, I own a StudioLive 16.4.2.  I use it when I play clubs or when I mix other bands.  I purchased the mixer in 2010 and have yet to have anything go wrong with it.  I have also installed PreSonus StudioLive consoles in over 10 different venues including clubs, concert halls and houses of worship.
What’s so great about PreSonus, anyhow?
The functionality of the StudioLive consoles is where it truly shines. Great sound quality, comprehensive layout and portability makes the StudioLives great for any application.  The virtual sound check is an incredible tool. The WAV files from Capture rival most pro DAWs.  My favorite feature is Universal Control’s remote iPad mixing.  It has eliminated the need to pull an audio snake for a FOH position in just about every application.  Tweaking monitors and house is completely portable, and easy.  My iPad, router and StudioLive mixer are my best friends.
What are you working on now—or next?
Recent PreSonus adventures have been the A Day To Remember IEM mix, the Heritage FOH mix, and the Ridiculous Youth Conference in Panama City Beach.  I’m sure my next gig is right around the corner.
Where can our readers learn more about you online?

Sama ProSound at KOBA 2013!

[This just in from Serin at Sama ProSound, our distributor in Korea. Serin and his crew recently had a very successful appearance at KOBA 2013, the 23rd Korea International Broadcast, Audio & Lighting Equipment Show. Over 43,000 people attended! Here’s the official word form the man himself.]

Hello, PreSonus, this is Serin!

The KOBA exhibition is Korea’s biggest audio fair. Established in 1991, the show’s all about audio, light, and products for broadcast as well. This year’s show ran from May 13th to May 16th with  42,459 visitors.

People were very excited about the new PreSonus products, especially the Eris studio monitors. We connected various monitors via the Central Station Plus so attendees could check out all the sounds we prepared through various monitors. The StudioLive 16.4.2 was also used as the main console at the small stage where our musicians performed.

Obviously, MayTree showed up, and nailed their fabulous performance with the help of their StudioLive 16.0.2!

Regards,
Serin Hong

#TeamPreSonus Spotlight: Brian Busch!


[We decided it best to give some recognition to our more vocal advocates—and what better way than via a blog series?]

Who are you, where are you, and what do you do?

I’m Brian Busch—Owner and Lead Engineer for Diamond Entertainment.

How were you introduced to PreSonus?

I started reading reviews and keeping an eye on PreSonus after the release of the StudioLive 16.4.2. It was pointed out to me by Roger Blevins, the lead singer for Mingo Fishtrap. He has long been a fan of PreSonus preamps, which he uses in his studio. With his recommendation and after some research of my own, once the StudioLive 24.4.2 was released I snapped one up and have been using it ever since.

What PreSonus software/hardware do you use and for what purpose?

I own a StudioLive 24.4.2 mixing console attached to a Mac Mini that has Capture and Studio One. We record our shows. Mingo Fishtrap is about to go on tour, and we will be using Capture to record the tour for a live album later to be produced later in the year. I also use an iPad to remotely mix most of my shows with StudioLive Remote. Even when I am not mixing with the iPad, it is an awesome tool for EQing monitors. The Smaart Measurement Technology is great for finding crazy frequencies that show up in the middle of a show.

What’s so great about PreSonus, anyhow?

In a word – flexibility. In my business, being able to adapt to whatever situation is thrown at you is paramount. I constantly have to set my mixer up on the stage, or side stage, for instance, because the show we are playing is for a wedding, I can remotely mix without ruining any the pictures of the bride’s special day.

When on tour, we will mix the show through the StudioLive 24.4.2 and just send a left/right to the front of house. This helps us out because we never know what situation we are showing up to. It could be a club with an old 16-channel board (we need 22, minimum) or a festival with some unfamiliar digital console. However, using this board and my iPad, I can stand right out in the sweet spot of the audience and mix the show from there. Festival stages love this because we only tie up two channels on their snake.

I also like the solid punchy sound of the preamps. No other mixer I use delivers more. This is true especially for drums. I can make just about any drum kit sound like a million bucks with those preamps.

Where can our readers learn more about you online?

Right here:

https://www.facebook.com/DiamondEntertainmentAustin

www.diamondaustin.com

Jeff Blackwell Archives Music History with his StudioLive


[Jeff Blackwell is the lucky guy who was recently bestowed an incredible collection of lost recordings from the Old South Jamboree from 1973 to 1976.The recordings include performances from many local Louisiana acts of the era, but the Old South Jamboree’s roster also included true luminaries of country music, including: George Jones, Buck Owens, Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Ernest Tubb, and Porter Wagoner. Jeff took on the daunting task of archiving these 16 reels of history to the digital world, and his PreSonus StudioLive 16.4.2 had a hand in it! I called Jeff and got the word from the horse’s mouth on this once-in-a-lifetime story. WBRZ recently aired a piece on this tale as well, embedded below—note StudioLive front-and-center in the video—but I HAD to talk to Jeff about some of the nittier, grittier details of this fascinating project.]

Hey Jeff! First, can I get some background on yourself and your work in audio?

Jeff: “I was a DJ at WYNK-FM back in the day—they are still on the air today. Back then, we used to sign on at 5 a.m. and sign off at midnight, it wasn’t a 24-hour station. We’d turn the transmitter on every morning before the show. They would pay me 45 cents an hour plus all the records I could eat!”

How did you come across the tapes?

Jeff: “Well, Going back in time… back in the 70s, WYNK would broadcast the shows from the Old South Jamboree every Saturday night. There were a few shows like that back in the day, like Louisana Hayride, which goes back to the 50s. That’s where Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, all the old greats got their start to the music biz. Anyhow, another guy who worked at WYNK, Page Dew, knew a guy who had been recording these Old South Jamboree shows at home on a consumer reel-to-reel deck—a total of about sixteen reels.”

How was the condition and quality of the original recordings?

Jeff: “Well, most were quarter-track recorded at 1 7/8 ips. Doesn’t provide a heckuva lot of bandwidth! When quality is at stake, faster tape speed is preferred to create more bandwidth, but that didn’t happen here. Not only did I have limited bandwidth to work with, but these songs were recorded off the air from a mono FM radio broadcast. Next, add that the band was recorded with only three mics, and their signal was being transmitted by a Marti transmitter (used for remote broadcasts back in the day), sent to an FM station, and then recorded by a listener at home at only 1 7/8 ips!”

“So, It was a really challenge to get quality out of that source. But when you hear it, it puts you in a very different frame of mind. It takes a listener back to a different era, when one speaker getting music out of the air was enough, regardless of how it sounded! When I heard the first reel I was transported back in time.”

Any way we can track down the guy who provided the tapes? Are there any more?

Jeff: “He’s long gone. I talked to Page, who lives in Colorado, and asked him that. He said that this guy and these tapes are dated from early 1973 to 1976. He said it was an old listener, and apparently someone at the station gave him the reels to record these shows—tape was six or seven bucks per reel back then.”

What hardware did you use to transfer and restore the recordings?

Jeff: “I used the StudioLive 164.2’sEQ on these recordings because I really love the Fat Channel. I was first on the list when I heard the StudioLive was coming out. Once I got my hands on it I was like ‘Cool!’ It’s my main console, everything goes through it to get into the computer.”

“My wife found the reel-to-reel I used, a Pioneer quad, at a garage sale. Got it for 50 bucks. The material recorded at 1 7/8 ips would only play at 3 ¾ ips on this tape machine, so it was still twice as fast as real time. Of course I couldn’t EQ that, so I had to pitch it down in software and then run it through the StudioLive. There were 3 reels recorded at 7.5 ips that I could process through the StudioLive directly before taking it to software for fine-tuning, pitch correction, and noise reduction.”

Will the recordings be made publicly available? Or is releasing all these old songs form these artists a licensing nightmare?

Jeff: “Exactly. Contracts were looser back then. I gotta tell ya, over 90-95 percent of this music was performed by local artists. Some are way out of tune, some can’t hit notes, and of course the mix was awful by today’s standards. I need to be careful about the copyright issues. Several friends of mine have asked for copies, there were a couple of artists who were pretty popular in the day who are now gone, singing some of their hits.”

Thanks, Jeff. Anything else to add about the StudioLive?

Jeff: “I don’t use it as a typical recording or musician-guy. Most of my use has been for advertising and corporate events. I learned early on that if I was gonna work with bands, I had to work with no budgets and weird hours! I figured that wasn’t for me.”

“Since I’ve had the StudioLive, I’ve recorded Scott Innes, whose voice credits include Scooby Doo and Shaggy, who lives in Baton Rouge. I’ve also done quite a bit of work with Warner Bros. using the StudioLive.”

“Another thing I use it for is the Louisiana State Medical Society Annual House Delegates meeting. I use the StudioLive’s noise gates on their mics—it’s a big live room, and there’s a lot of interaction going on. So, I don’t have to worry about running gain on my mics. I love it. It has that finesse I need to mute a mic when not in use, but when the person starts talking it breaks the gate… good to go! I also rent a StudioLive 24.4.2  for the annual Acadian Ambulance Service Paramedic of the Year award program.  More like a theatrical event with lots of wireless mics, skits and over 80 sound cues!”

The StudioLive 16.4.2s at Rapa Nui’s Tapati Festival

[This just in from Mauricio Yáñez Polloni, of our distributor partner, Croma Limitada.]

The guy at the StudioLives in these pictures is Mauricio Romero, my friend, who has lived for 10 years on Rapa Nui! He did all the audio production for the Tapati, an annual festival that lasts for 10 days! Tapati was first performed during the first ten days of February, 1975. The festival began as a one among islanders, but now is an instance to share culture with tourists visiting around that time of year.

Two linked StudioLive 16.4.2s were the heart of the sound of this important event, running the live sound and recording the bands simultaneously. The show was recorded in Capture and then edited, mixed, and mastered in Studio One 2.5.

Mauricio Romero is the founder of the most important sound company of the island, Matau Producciones. He also has produced many albums with ethnic music of Rapa Nui.

This year, Matau Producciones did all sound and lighting for Tapati as well. Saludos!

Ray Johnston Band Produces EPK Track Live via StudioLive 16.4.2

[This just in from the Ray Johnston Band!]

Hey PreSonus! We finished the EPK, all recorded live from our PreSonus 16.4.2. Hope y’all dig. Bobby Sparks was on the gig as you will see!

Like what you hear? Check out the Ray Johnston Band on the platform of your choice: