ON the NET 24 Hours in Cyberspace
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MARCH 1996 $5.75 E2.00 NNW ./ JO' . f r TIE INTERNATIONAL .+' TECHNICAL MAGAZINE FOR PRO AUDIO, POSTPRODUCTION & BROADCAST EXCLUSIVE ON THE NET 24 Hours in Cyberspace 03 HO 9 77014/.59401 7 www.americanradiohistory.com Oizce in a while a product comes along that is so unique, so powerful, that it c_ianges the way we look at things. Such a product is the Ap_iex 661 Compressor Limiter- creating a new standard by combining four Aphex irtventior s. A skillfully engineered instrument of unprecedented tlexib_lity, ea ;e of use and sonic eecellence. Tubessence® - true vacuum tube technology and warmth; High Frequency Expander (HFX)TM for automatically retaining the high frequencies lost during compression; Easyrider® circuitry for an Auto mode that really works; and the world's best VCA - the Aphex 1001, the fastest, most accurate and transparent available. The Aphex Model 661 - another revolutionary step toward improving the way the world sounds. APHEX Improving the way the world soundsd sm Tel: 818 -767 -2929, Fax: 818 -767 -2641 Y A T I V 11068 Randall Street, Sun Valley, CA 91352 www.americanradiohistory.com Editorial Tim Goodyer redesigns humans to suit today's machines Soundings Show news from MacWorld Expo, a report from the (AS (onference and developments from around the world of pro -audio International Columns Reports from Studio Sounds columnists in Europe, America and the Far East Hoboken's Waterfront Studio boasts two classic early 1970s EMI World Events The only exhaustive show and convention consoles and a wealth of unusual vintage equipment. Background story and listing for upcoming audio, postproduction, broadcast, and communications some Redd hot photos on page 46 FEATURES REVIEW Waterfront /Facility Cl E C 7" II O N 16 Garwood Radio Station IDS An American studio with a penchant for vintage valve consoles Exclusive: latest developments to hit in -ear monitoring systems 18 Focusrite Red 7 Multichannel/ Postproduction The latest in world -class signal processing takes on de- essing Tom Holman continues his discussion of multichannel audio systems 26 Aphex Model 661 Valves meet modern circuit topology in this new compressor Galactica /Facility (21 28 ART Pro Gate Eight -track modularity is the key Ldst meets West in Bombay's most advanced postproduction facility to this unusual American gate 31 Inward Connections Vac Rac Binaural /Recording Retro meets modernism in a M modular outboard system 35 New Technologies Exploring the potential of binaural recording as a real alternative to stereo New equipment including Musikmesse highlights 36 Project studio equipment Cyberspace/ The spotlight falls on the latest 82 in project studio equipment Broadcast .uc1p. A unique insight into a unique international Internet experiment STUDIO Speaker design/ 93 Technology An ideal loudspeaker design provides a benchmark for our existing designs COMMENT 20 Soundtracs digital console John Watkinson An exclusive insight into the nature and background of the Are computers miscast as a modern business accessary? latest digital mixing console BROWN INTERVIEW Broadcast UK seems 11 L He's produced the biggest names cable communications in the field of entertainment START PAGE strangely caught up in a web of semantics writes Kevin Hilton in country and he was Elvis Presley's Rocket Science pianist: Tony Brown in an exclusive l( design could turn out to be the most critical element in the future of audio equipment deselopment interview with Studio Sound Open M i c Total dynamic mix automation is transforming engineering working practices- quietly Studio Sound 3 www.americanradiohistory.com DE A D L I N E S On Time O M N I M I X Multi- format digital production system When you and your clients can't afford expensive delays, the awesome speed and flexibility of OmniMix ensures the fastest possible turnaround against impossible deadlines. Only OmniMix bristles with enough innovative technology to attain hitherto unachievable creative effects and increase throughput - in all major surround -sound formats. Attain your artistic goals as well as your production deadlines with OmniMix, the system that keeps clients coming back. Why wait any longer? Solid State Logic PROVEN PERFORMANCE - SUPREME (1i .11.I I 1 International Headquarters: Begbroke, Oxford, England OX5 1RU. Tel: (01865) 842300 Paris (11 34 60 46 66. Milan (21 26 22 49 56. Tokyo 131 54 74 1144 New York (2121 315 1111. Los Angeles (2131 463 4444. US Toll Free Number 1 -800- 3430101. Broadcast & Post Production www.americanradiohistory.com THIS EDmON'S CONTRIBUTORS Genetic engineering God was he ugly -really ugly. Ed say about a foot and a half, maybe two feet tall, with huge hinds and feet, and hopelessly tiny arms and legs. His head was enormous and his tongue trailed along the floor. But it was his genitalia that was really frightening... GEORGE SHILLING is a freelance engineer- producer with extensive experience of dance. It could just have been a bad dream but it wasn't. Instead, it was the model of a man used some pop and rock recording. Recent years back by eminent British doctor and sometime comedian Jonathan Miller to illustrate a human credits include The Wannadies. male's psychological perception of his own body. For me, it was as enlightening as it was unattractive. Blur. Boy George. Eternal, and The principle of profiling human beings in accordance with some particular precept is neither new Marc Almond. He operates a nor fully explored; it will undoubtedly play a part in many future academic presentations. It might programming -preproduction room also form the basis of an exercise in remodelling the human form in response to the requirements of a t his home in the Cotswolds. the recording studio. Having thought this through, I can assure you that it's a curious exercise. It has intellectual merit that it has no right to claim -after all, isn't a recording studio designed around the requirements of a human form? Isn't the equipment exclusively engineered to suit hands, ears and eyes in the arrangement forced upon us by Mother Nature? LET'S START WITH HANDS. Two are fine but I have a conceptual problem with five finger- \vuuldn't eight he more convenient? The whole principle of 8 -track recording, 8-channel modularity and, of course, the 8 -track modular digital recorder would make eight fingers of equal length an inarguable asset. The opposed thumb remains a prerequisite to humans learning to manage tools, of course, but if we had managed to neglect those thumbs when we were learning to count, we could quite easily have had a head start when hex surfaced as such a SUE SILLITOE has been useful number base in computing circles. writing about pro audio for so long Perhaps the most dramatic 'improvement' in the human form that she suspects she must have centres on the rearrangement of eyes and ears. Unfortunately, the been a mixing desk in a previous term 'line of sight' as applied to the directionality of loudspeakers life. Apart from her three kids. her is rather literal and gives rise to conflicting requirements between production credits include regular optimum loudspeaker positioning and visual contact with articles in Music Week and Pro everything from outboard equipment to a band on the other side Sound News as well as a review of the glass. Of course, I accept that there are very good reasons to column for the Press Association. give our eyes as high a vantage point as possible and to keep both eyes and ears relatively mobile, but the drawbacks of the design in a studio setting are obvious. From here on the argument moves gently from being less coherent to becoming ridiculous. Likely components for redesigning are arms (how long should they be and how should they be jointed ?) and legs (which could optimally be replaced with wheels for traversing a large console -but wheels are not a feature of the natural world). The point, however, has been made. Or part of it has. Accepting the abstract nature of the exercise, the question remains: if studio equipment has been designed specifically for the human form, why it is so easy to identify discontinuities in the man - machine interface? Am I simply identifying difficult areas of the design problem and simplifying the problem or is there another factor at work here? Why, for example, are we having problems accepting an alternative to the established console format? It is relevant to quote the example of the WADE McGREGOR is Maltron alternative to the QWERTY keyboard? The Maltron was a design that was conceived to a senior consultant for Barron lessen the risk of RSI, Repetitive Strain Injury, as well as making typing more efficient. Sounds too Kennedy Lyzun 8 Associates. good to be true. But no big computer hardware manufacturers to want it. The working one of Canada's largest appear acoustical consulting firms. patterns were set; progress was unwelcome. He began his professional audio On a lighter note, a human being optimised for work in a recording career 20 years ago when he studio might find itself challenged by the musical instruments we now % - joined CBS to record symphonic find familiar. Come to think of it, Jonathan Miller's model is strongly L ':c'c C. music and radio drama. reminiscent of most of the musicians I know. ' ''1C_ \I-(`may editor March 96 Studio Sound 5 www.americanradiohistory.com Netherlands: Paul Weijenberg Studios is the first audio postproduction company in Europe to install Yamaha's new digital mixing console, the 02R. The desk combines with the Akai DD1500, 16- track, hard -disk recorder to produce a fast and powerful audio workstation. This arrangement makes the studio suitable for Dolby Surround audio postproduction.