The new Maestro 2 software offers integral control of Symphony I/O with a new interface that makes workflow easier by removing the guesswork from routing, mic pre adjustment, input and output calibration and hardware control. Lastly, connect Symphony I/O to the Symphony 64 PCI or Symphony Mobile Express/34 card for low latency with Apple Logic, and all Apple Core Audio applications.

Features:
» The latest in Apogee conversion and clocking technologies
» Current I/O Modules include:
— 8 Analog I/O + 8 Optical I/O
— 8 Analog I/O + 8 AES I/O
— 8 Mic Preamp
— 16 Analog IN + 16 Optical OUT
— 16 Analog OUT + 16 Optical IN
» Audio Interface Mode (AIM): Easily configure Symphony I/O from the front panel for these modes:
— Symphony (connect to Symphony PCIe card or Symphony Mobile
— Express/34 card for ultra low latency use with Logic or any Core Audio application)
— Pro Tools HD (connect directly to Pro Tools PCIe card)
— USB (connect to high-speed USB 2.0 port)
— StandAlone (I/O inputs routed directly to I/O outputs)
» Front panel control including two encoder knobs for selectable input gain and output level adjustment and sixteen (16) high-resolution meters, audio system and clocking indication
» Two (2) studio quality headphone outputs
» Four (4) word clock connections
» Available with feet for desktop use or rack ears for rack mounting

Apogee’s Symphony starts at $3690 and will begin rolling out on August 1st. More information on Apogee Symphony.

[via futuremusic.com]

As if that weren’t bad enough, even the bands who do move units end up paying through the nose, mouth, eyes and ears for management, legal fees, producers and other expenses, leaving most of them scrounging to pay for record advances and, if they can afford it, health care.

From the outside, it often sounds fun to be in a band. But before picking up that guitar or microphone, take a look at where the money from a record goes.

read more on the root

I used to illegally download in high school. I remember when Napster first came out. It was incredible. It was fast, free, and delivered on-demand music; what could be bad about that? I can say, in all honestly, I did not once think about how it could negatively impact a musician, until I saw first-hand what it was doing.

After high school, I went to NYU, hoping to become a recording engineer. At the same time, I began to record my own music, in the hope of someday making a living from it. In an effort to get a grander perspective on the business I longed to enter, I got an internship at an indie record label. There I saw artists, with sizable fan-bases, question whether they could record another album. The demand was there, but the audience was not paying for the product they claimed to love so much. This directly translated to artists not recording albums, plain and simple. Instead, they embarked on relentless tours, leaving little to no time for writing new material and recording it.

During this time I also started to look for work in recording studios. There, I saw an effect of file sharing that was not immediately obvious. Musicians could no longer afford to pay recording engineers (amazing artists in their own right). As music sales continued to decline, studios all over New York City were shutting their doors. And it wasn’t just the big time Hit Factory places; small independently run studios were going under as well. It wasn’t that they were creating inferior products. It was a direct result of people not paying for music. This led to a decline in the quality of recorded music, at least when talking about independent artists who don’t have a 1 million dollar advance to burn through.

As I saw this going on around me, I stopped to think. If I want to be an audio engineer at a studio, how can I download music illegally? It would be utterly hypocritical of me to download an album for nothing, and at the same time hope that someone else would buy one I worked on. I realized that if I wanted things to change, I would have to start by doing it myself. Hands down, the best way to support your favorite artist is financially. Of course, telling your friends about songs and re-tweeting alerts helps, but it does not necessarily enable artists to produce moremusic. At the end of the day, what good is a fan who tells 1,000 friends about your album if none of them actually buy it? Sure, those people might go see the band live, but concerts and recordings have totally different budgets and costs. When you go see a live show, it doesn’t make up for the record you ripped off LimeWire. Your ticket price pays the roadies, the sound guys, the tour manager, the gas bills, the van insurance, and maybe, if they’re lucky, the band. That form of logic reduces recorded music to a PR Tool, aimed at promoting the sale of tickets and t-shirts. And what does that say for recorded music as a medium? Will recorded music be reduced to the importance of a T-shirt, used to promote a live show? Recorded music provides a listening experience that is unique and rewarding in its own right, and listeners should strive to preserve that. Fans should respect the wishes of the artist. If a musician asks that you pay for an album, you should respect the time and effort that went into its creation, and pay for it.

Perhaps people don’t really care about how artists make their living. But there are positive repercussions for the listener. First, I guarantee you, it will make the listening experience more rewarding. You will have a recording whose quality matches what the artist intended. You will listen closer. Just like you would savor the taste of an expensive bottle of wine, you’ll savor the sounds of that record you bought. After all, good music is not meant to be “chugged”. Buying a record will also make it easier for that artist to produce another one, meaning you get a kick-ass sounding follow-up to that record you just sipped slowly with some cheese and crackers. It is, in essence, a “win/win”.

Don’t believe me? Try it out. Wait for the release date, like you would a souffle coming from the kitchen. When it arrives, set aside some time to put it on. You can end the listening session with the comforting feeling that you are enabling the artist you love to continue to create beautiful music, that you will be able to tweet about in the very near future.

At the end of the day, it’s really a moral argument. Unfortunately in the music world, as with life in general, the moral road is not always the easiest route to take. As Plato said, “[Music] gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything.” In this sense, it is almost as important as the air we breathe. I urge you to meditate on this. How much does music mean to you? How does it positively affect your life? Hopefully many of you will come to the conclusion that while you may not have a fat bank account, ten dollars for a record you will play 100 times is a damn good deal.

[via www.musicthinktank.com]

Cubase 5.5 is more efficient thanks to its reworked audio engine that provides better low-latency performance on multiple core systems. The plug-ins REVerence* and LoopMash* now offer a better CPU efficiency and the VST Bridge technology not only works faster, but also features enhanced compatibility with the majority of bridged 32-bit VST2.4 plug-ins.

The 5.5 update also speeds up mixing and video editing. The automation panel has been redesigned and is now equipped with additional automation functionality, while the convenient Quick Control system has been expanded. Cubase 5.5 comes with a new Open GL accelerated video engine with full HD support* and scalable performance.

But that’s not all. Beat production is getting even better with Cubase 5.5. The Sample Editor has witnessed massive refinements when it comes to working with slices and AudioWarp editing. New functions have also been added to the beat specialists LoopMash and Groove Agent ONE, the latter featuring 19 brand-new and exclusive vintage drum kits.

There are further improvements such as the redesigned MediaBay, an overhauled scrubbing function and new channel batch export features. Please visit the Cubase 5.5 product page for detailed information on all new features.

The update is available as a free download for all registered customers of Cubase 5 and Cubase Studio 5.

Download Cubase 5.5 Update

Download Cubase Studio 5.5 Update

*Feature included in Cubase 5.5 only

The sculpture is like an abstract name tag for the building, as the artist recorded his own voice, saying “Rolex Tower”. The waveform of this recording in 3D form was then used as blueprint for the sculpture

[via everydaylistening.com]

First, think about the room itself. If is completely untreated you can be sure that when you put a drum kit in the room, it will resonate like crazy and likely be difficult to get a nice tight sound. At the other extreme, if the room is too dark or overly treated, all of the instruments you record will sound dry and unnatural. This means that you will constantly be adding artificial ambiance’ to the tracks. It comes down to balance.

This is where the LEDE concept has merit; you can have one end of your room treated with 60% of your acoustic budget while the other end could be treated more sparsely with the left over 40%. When recording drums, you could get a more controlled effect in the dead end and a more ambient sound in the live end. For voice recording, the dead end would eliminate much of the ambiance and let you add the effects as needed. Acoustic instruments such as guitars tend to sound more natural when the room acoustics are included. You could therefore position the guitar in the center of the room and have an omni-directional mic in the live-end to capture the space. There is no right – it is a matter of creatively using the space at hand.

How much material should I use?
Generally speaking, you are better to start with less and add more as you go. Start by recording in your room so that you can hear what it does. If you find that you are experiencing strange tones, you likely are hearing phase cancellation due to room modes causing a comb-filtering effect and therefore, you should consider adding more acoustic treatment.

One of the cool things about the Broadway panels is that the impaler clips make them both easy to put up and easy to relocate. Most successful studio owners start with a couple of boxes of Broadway panels and begin by creating the dead space. As you are putting panels up on the wall, nothing will happen… another panel – still nothing and then wham! All of a sudden the room will change. It will tighten up and you will hear it immediately. Stop. You are now ready to go over to the live end. This time, just think in terms of eliminating parallel surfaces. The Primacoustic Scatter Blocks are great for this as they can be placed in a random fashion around the space to tame the ambiance. Remember, this end is live.

[via primacoustic.com]