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I’ve been getting a lot of pressure from the singer in my band to hook him up with effects for his vocals lately. I’ve been reluctant to put together a vocal effects system for him because of the usually kludgey nature of adding effects to live vocals: running a mic straight into a guitar stomp box, then into a mic preamp. This tends to translate into anemic sound, noisy signal and angry live sound engineers. Enter the Boss VE-20 vocal processor, a dedicated microphone level, voice processing stomp box. The VE-20 is typical Boss, and I say that in a complimentary way: Boss effects tend to do what their box says they’re going to do, and are built solidly. The VE-20 is no exception: sturdy metal construction in a twin pedal housing (the left pedal controls global bypass and loop recording, the right pedal controls harmony bypass and patch selection, or can be assigned to several other functions as well. On the back panel, the input is a combo jack accepting either an XLR (with a full +48vdc phantom available) or 1/4” input. Outputs are a stereo pair of XLRs running at mic level, and a 1/4” stereo line / […]... Click on the title for more
The latest addition to the Abbey Road Plugins lineup is the RS124 compressor. The RS124 was a compressor that Abbey Road was known to make great use of throughout the 60’s, and it was considered to be an integral part of their drum sound on many famous recordings. Many of the custom pieces of gear from Abbey Road were actually modified versions of existing units. For example, the preamps in their famous REDD consoles, also used throughout the 60’s, were in-house modified Telefunken pres. In the case of the RS124, the EMI engineering team at Abbey Road took the American-made Altec 436B tube compressor and made it their own. Mainly, they took steps to make it work more efficiently with their gear and added a few important features – an output level knob and a “recovery” knob, which controls the release time. So, the RS124 units are basically pieces of gear to die for. Although I haven’t used the real units myself, I can safely say that this is a really great sounding compressor with its own unique sonic footprint: very smooth and slightly punchy with a lot of character. I found it very usable on everything, but for me […]... Click on the title for more
Though not as popular as compressors, maximizers (sometimes called exciters or enhancers) are many engineers’ “secret weapon” for adding extra pop and sizzle or smoothing out rough-edged tracks. For those familiar with studio compressors, BBE is to maximizers as DBX is to compressors: affordable and dependable. BBE’s D82 Sonic Maximizer plugin, a faithful emulation of their hardware unit, is a flexible addition to any recordist’s arsenal. Using two simple controls, Lo Contour and Process, the D82 adjusts phase irregularities in low and high frequencies. Overall, I found the plugin most useful at rounding out the boomy bass and low-mid frequencies found in acoustic recordings. As a test, I applied it to an overly muted kick drum recording and it brought clarity and definition back to the track. The D82’s preset settings are too generalized to rely on, but it doesn’t take long to become comfortable tweaking the controls. I found that the plugin sounds best placed at the front of the signal chain and applied in moderation. High end companies offer similar plugins to tackle multi-band dynamics, such as Sonalksis’ CQ1 Multi-Band Compander. However, no one offers a plugin that functions quite like the D82 at a low price. BBE […]... Click on the title for more
V-Moda is a Hollywood-based lifestyle brand that mixes fashion, design and music to make some beautiful products. The Crossfade LP headphones are their latest addition to their product lineup. Four years in the making, the Crossfade LP is the marriage of design and functionality. V-Moda founder Val Kolton collaborated with musicians and DJ’s from around the world to develop headphones with a balanced, warm, functional sound. And Kolton’s passion for Italian design shows in the Crossfade LP, which looks like the Ferrari of headphones. They definitely score high marks in the bling-factor category. As far as sound goes, these headphones have great isolation from outside noise – the closed-back design and the memory foam ear cushions see to that. The Crossfade has a warm, punchy low end response with a slightly softer high end, which helps combat fatiguing high frequencies in loud and/or long listening sessions. As its name might suggest, the Crossfade LP is a great choice for DJ’s who are exposed to exactly that – long and loud listening sessions where they need punchy (not squishy) bass frequencies and a slightly reigned-in high end. Another great feature (again, especially for long sessions) is the super-comfortable fit. When I […]... Click on the title for more
What do you need to look for in a recording studio? In this article you'll find all the advice you need about equipment, engineers, rooms, rates, and ways of approaching the recording experience. - 
The now discontinued
Creative
Delay
Dirt
Dynamics
Filter+EQ
Lo-fi
Modulation
pitch
Reverb
Synth
Shopping Guides
Stompbox Exhibit
We finally managed to put our hands on a TC Polytune - people at the Winter NAMM show back in January were pretty excited about this little white box. What makes this tuner truly revolutionary is the fact that it is poly-chromatic, providing the ability to tune all strings concurrently: Strum all six strings open and the display shows which individual strings are sharp, flat, and on pitch. And yes, it works for bass guitars, too!... Click on the title for more
