Studio-Sound-2001-02
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February 2001 I UK £6.00 US $12.00 STUDIO ., POSTPRODUCTION RECORDING BROADCAST S www.studio-sound.com KIi.11.0310 5? +otlf .,..,L, - - - : : : , {.-° . - - - .. ..- _><. ..DEAÑ . a ,..a f- - alai air, a--a ae° - âíi°`` ;a.;.._n...' , *w ,z .. >. ,... - W Post cards from across the Atlantic - = -_ -__-..-.._ REVIEWS Drawmer Masterflow 0C2496 DAV Broadcast Gardens No. 1 Empirical Labs EU Fatso Jnr HHb Portadisc Fostex D2424 P44Ñ Dolby DM100 Postpro Project: Studio design details Fairman TSC Making Love Recording with Joan Osborne HHb BurniT Radio Control: Manila's Mellow Touch dbx 376 SSAIIAs: Studio Sound's 2001 awards ATC T16 Active www.americanradiohistory.com You're busy, you're up against impossible deadlines you need power... Logic 3SC is a fully networkable Faster editing and project HollywDod -style surround turnaround monitoring high post workstation offering 64/128 input menu -free mixing AMS Nave's new DSP ToolBox' console plug -irs speed editing and mixing that Simultaneous multi -version delivers for your clients and mixes makes sense for your business. ...you n he Logic 3SC 10:53:44 05 AMS NEVE HEAD OFFICE - AMS Neve plc Billington Road Burnley Lams BB11 5UB England Tel: +44 (0) 1282 457011 Fax: +44 (0) 1282 417282 LOGIC 3SC LONDON - Tel: +44 (0)20 7916 2828 GERMANY - Tel: +49 61 31 9 42 5220 5.1 Audio Post System NEW YORK - Tel: +1 (212) 965 1400 HOLLYWOOD - Tel +1 (E18) 753 8789 e -mail: enquiry @ams- neve.com www.ams- neve.com www.americanradiohistory.com CONTENTS POSTPRODUCTION ANALYSIS 68 Dr John Colorirnetry, human perception and the 4 Editorial engineering considerations of viewing colour Costing innovation and taming the Internet REVIEWS 6 Soundings 20 HHb Portadisc Breaking news on professional The heir audio, post and broadcast to the popular PortaDAT makes a persuasive case 62 SSAIRAs The curtain rises on Studio Sound's 2001 24 Fostex D2424 audio excellence awards Expanding horizons for fast and wide tapeless recording operation 70 Classifieds Take a walk around the pro -audio marketplace 26 HHb BurniT Professional CD recording takes a 74 Letters step down the price ladder Studio Sound star in archive antics shock... 28 ATC T16 Active The definitive loudspeaker review 74 World Events Check the latest updates to the 2001 pro -audio events calendar 30 Drawmer Masterflow DC2496 A high -performance convertor with 78 The Wish List extended applications Lloyd Billing kits out Studio Sounds project post room 32 dbx 376 76 Stereotypes S Top 10 The American Tube Channel brings A new look at audio industry characters new character to the strip and their listening habits 34 DAV Broadcast Gardens No. 1 FEATURES Decca's recording heritage resurfaces in a new mic pre amplifier POSTPRODUCTION 36 Empirical Labs EL7 Fatso Jnr 42 Dean Humphries The American compressor that prides Words on sound and views on picture post itself in distortion from both sides of the Atlantic RECORDING 39 Dolby DM100 The latest handheld test 'essential' is 48 Joan Osborne Dolby's bitstream analyser Lessons in Making Love, from producer Mitchell Froom and engineer John Patemo 40 Fairman TSC BROADCAST A new valve -based stereo compressor from Denmark sweeps clean 16 Mellow Touch Radio broadcast in Manila is making bold COLUMNISTS moves beyond its roots in music r""?6'r"G'tr[rr'"'"C"°'r-- err- T-' r--CI^`: - r r r . r r e r r r 64 Technology r r r r r r r r r r r TECHNOLOGY Barry Fox traces the false starts that É rF rC É ' i predate the domestic acceptance of 50 Studio Design r r r r r r a r r multichannel audio r r r r r r r r r A grounding in the acoustic considerations for r' r r r r r r r r r r r designing a small postproduction mix room r r r r r r r r rr; r 64 Business »'kTG"»°^''fr p' r- r-- r- r- ^ = -" 54 Studio Design Dan Daley studies the recent US presidential i^s 6S Rs ; iQ AQ!7 r1T 1E7 1E71 1173 Four international studio designers were "' r7 1= a rm 71',.x election for audio business metaphors --", Irrr r-* r^? r-- err r-r Q If !T leff briefed on a post suite; here are the results '1"r.'rriárrFff"l'r< fir: CCrrElr-: ° rr rr rr rr rr e<r: rr rr lrr ;;. 3 S" 66 Masterclass 64 Delivery The first stage in defining, building and Kevin Hilton raises questions of democracy running a dedicated Pro Tools system over broadcast legislation www.studio-sound.com www.americanradiohistory.com EDITORIA I Putting a price on innovation February 2001 Vol 43, No 2. ISSN 0144 5944 AMM OH-ERED ME what has now become an United Business Media, increasingly rare opportunity to take a peek at 8 Montague Close, London Bridge, a manufacturer's `secret' work in progress. Back in the heady days of fledgling digital it was a relatively London SE1 9UR, UK. to be invited, in hushed tones, into common occurrence Fax: +44 (0)20 7407 7102 a locked room at a convention or up to R &D offices and even to be asked to sign the occasional non disclo- Net: www.studio- sound.com sure agreement. The experience is thrilling and does wonders for the ego -I hasten to add that I was only Emails: (initialsumamer ubmintemational.com) one go the process of many to through at NAMM - Direct lines: +44 (0)20 7940 (extension). but it is also surprisingly taxing. You are watched intensely, they read your body lan- guage towards the new kit, note which hits you choose to EDITORIAL touch, track where you eyes fall first and map and com- Executive Editor: Zenon Schoepe. X: 8513 pile your questions and reactions. The performance is all sideration with previous viewings of embryonic ground about you and the manufacturer will only ask, perhaps, breaking products -they would tell me the price and Editor: Tim Goodyer. X: 8578 three or four questions. These seem almost inane in the expect a reaction -it was the life changing aid to produc- Production Editor: Dawn Boultwood. X: 8523 context of the vast amount of information you are strug- tivity that a new product would bring that was the sell line. gling to assimilate but they always reveal precisely what Knowing that there could be a wide window of accept- Secretary: Eileen Sullivan. X: 8524 the manufacturer is really interested in or worried about. able pricing cheapens the product and the time and effort At NAMM I was taken aback to be asked for the first that has gone in to its development, it also queers the time what I thought a new product should cost. I've corn - wicket for what should ever follow it. Most importantly Consultant Editors: mented on worksurfaces, degrees of assignability, I -O charging what it takes to market conquer demeans any Broadcast: Florian Camerer. ORF. Vienna. minimums, speed and feel, ergonomics, cosmetics, and intrinsic value that a user may place in a spot -on product compared and contrasted a new product for features and and raises future expectations unrealistically. Chris Wolters, VTM. Brussels. value for money against a competitor, but I've never been If manufacturers charge what a genuinely innovative Postproduction: Paulo Biondo. asked to put a price on something before. product is worth to a targeted user rather than what they What many would regard as the leading mass can sell it for by the thousand, then they will still have a International Recording. Rome. market edge of pro audio has become ferociously price pro -audio industry market to sell to in five years time. Lloyd Billing, The Tape Gallery. London. conscious. While I won't pretend that cost was never a con- Zenon Schoepe, executive editor Recording: Arthur Baker. producer- remixer. Playing with fire Trevor Fletcher. Criteria Studios. Miami. Consultants: Francis Rumsey: John Watkinson THE SETTING ISN'T NEW; not to me, anyway. answer. But looking for a solution to music's present Columnists: Dan Daley: Barry Fox: Kevin Hilton But for the uninitiated, I passionately believe that straits, the Internet, and even Napster starts to make the pooled listening resource most of us enjoy some kind of sense. Bench- testers: Keith Holland: Paul Miller while at school and college plays a large part in the mar- A recent forum hosted by the Music Producer's Guild keting, understanding and enjoyment of music. Few of concluded that MP3 was a good marketing -promotion Regular Contributors: Jim Betteridge: us recognise it at the time, but diverging interests and tool -and it might be more, if it helps bring the great Richard Buskin: Simon Croft: growing responsibility soon challenge this golden age of unsigned to greater awareness and substitutes for those Tim listening leaving those who have not secured a career in cumulative hours spent comparing notes on recent (and Ben Duncan: Dave Foister: Frost: audio struggling to keep their listening current. The sit- not so recent) releases in the playground. With a little Neil Hillman: Rob James: Caroline Moss: Philip uation is worsened by the cost of pre -recorded music; faith, it might be possible to imagine Napster emulating where cheap CDs would encourage impulse purchases the role of the (illicit) cassette recordings that circulate Newell: Terry Nelson: Martin Polon: and wider audiences, the record to the ultimate benefit rather George Shilling: Simon Trask companies' pursuit of cash than detriment of an artist. A News Editor: Phil Ward deters lone listeners from more kind of lost leader. Even AI con- speculative purchases. cedes, If one were in their It's been a kind of impasse .4t ' twenties and in an ambitious, ADVERTISEMENT SALES for some considerable years nascent band, they would wel- now, with record collections come Napster and their ilk...'.