FREE INSIDE WITHWITH 1212 INCLUDINGINCLUDING VIDEOVIDEO THREE THREE TUTORIALSTUTORIALS HOURSHOURS OFOF VIDEOVIDEO TUTORIALS!TUTORIALS! RecordingThe in-depth guide for the creative musician RThe in-edepthc guideo for trhe crdeativei munsiciang Recording Recording R e c o r d i n g The in-depth guide for the creative musician musician creative the for guide in-depth The T h e EXPERT STUDIO ADVICE i EXPERT STUDIO ADVICE n - d HOW TO MAKE THE e HOW TO MAKE THE p t h BEST RECORDINGS g BEST RECORDINGS u i d 100% e EVERY TIME f EVERY TIME o RECORDING r t KNOW-HOW h e c r e a t i v e m u s i c i a n ww w w w.musictechmag.co.uk w . m u s FEATURING… i ISBN 978-1-906925-15-4 9 781906 925154 MusicTech Focus: Recording Recording Focus: MusicTech MusicTech Focus: Recording Recording Focus: MusicTech £8.99 c t FEATURING… e c Recording guitars, drums, vocals, strings and more h m Recording guitars, drums, vocals, strings and more a Advanced recording tips Recording with your DAW g . Advanced recording tips Recording with your DAW c o Mobile recording . Processing your recordings u £8. k Processing your recordings Mobile recording 99 WWrittenritten aandnd ccompiledompiled bbyy MMusicusic TTechech MMagazine’sagazine’s rrecordingecording eexpertsxperts Apogee ONE Reviews MTF actually a high quality microphone with Measuring Up very high quality digital to analogue Other products like these 2200USB (£289) converters thrown in plus a microphone provide a high quality USB microphone signal preamp with up to 63dB of gain. withn o board monitoring, or you can use a Mic Port Pro (£149) to connect any conventional If you don’t want to use the on board microphone via USB and provide monitoring. mic, a ‘break out’ cable is supplied with But when you factor in a high impedance two audio connections – a quarter inch analogue input and a high quality built in microphone, the Apogee ONE is really out jack socket for guitars, basses and even theren o its own. mono keyboards plus an XLR for conventional microphones. What about phantom power? That’s no problem converters, but what about the either, so long as your Mac computer or microphone? Once again we were USB hub can supply enough juice. extremely impressed because the on board mic sounds ultra clean, there was Mac only no discernible noise and, besides a The ONE is a Mac only product and you’ll slight lift in the treble, it was remarkably need a G5 or an Intel computer running natural and uncoloured. OS X 10.5.7 or greater with 1GB With the ONE microphone you’re minimum of RAM installed, but certainly not restricted to sketching out preferably 2G. Although the Quick Start your ideas with a view to re-recording Guide only covers Garage Band any Core them later. Audio software designed for Macs is Next we tried the line input with a said to be compatible. Apogee include passive electric guitar. Achieving a Garage Band, Logic Studio, Pro Tools, workable level was no problem Ableton Live, Digital Performer, Cubase, whatsoever and we had fun loading up Nuendo and Sountrack Pro in their list. various amp and pedal models in Multiple ONEs can also be used Garage Band and Logic. You can monitor simultaneously if you’re recording the direct signal through the ONE, but groups of musicians and you can also even with the processing latency was so combine the ONE with other Apogee low it was unnoticeable. Since only the Apogee products such as the GiO. direct sound from the guitar is recorded, The unit itself feels reassuringly you can even send the signal back solid and optional accessories include a through an amplifier later and re-record mic stand clip, a tabletop mic stand and the part with any sound you like. O NE a padded carry case. You can also buy a The Apogee ONE does all the things 3m USB cable to replace the absurdly that a USB microphone can do, plus it The Apogee ONE is a ‘professional USB short cable supplied as standard. The enables you to connect any on board mic is visible beneath the conventional microphone to your music interface’ featuring an on board multifunction silver control knob that computer via USB. The quality of the microphone, quarter inch and XLR selects input and output sources and monitoring, whether you’re listening adjusts levels and volume. through speakers or headphones, is in a analogue inputs and high quality digital Getting up and running was simple completely different league to most converters. Huw Price plugs in. and entirely problem free. Once the USB products. When you take into Apogee software was installed and the account the street price the ONE looks One was connected we were up and like a pretty amazing deal. MTF ONE Key Features running straight away. So we decided to Manufacturer Apogee ● Internal assess the on board connectors first Price £211 condenser and the ONE’s audio output was plugged MTM Verdict microphone into our usual monitoring system. Contact Sonic Distribution ● fLots o mic input WHY BUY 0845 5002500 gain With the audio output window + nAll i one USB recording solution ● Multi-function selected in System Preferences we + Impressive on board mic Web www.apogeedigital.com encoder knob merely switched between the ONE, the + Very impressive converters ● Very low latency + Noise free performance Mac’s on board soundcard and a MOTU + Simple problem free setup o you’re probably thinking ‘Oh ● Dimensions: 2.25” 828MkII. We expected the ONE to better + Easy connectivity no, not another digital audio W x 4.75” L x 1” H the Mac soundcard and we weren’t interface’ and actually you’d disappointed in that respect, but we WALKN O BY - Mac only be right. This really isn’t just also preferred the Apogee to the MOTU. - Mono recording only S another digital audio interface. What’s Bass seemed deeper and more solid, - Maximum 48 KHz sample rate more, anybody who regards the term ambient sounds had a greater sense of - Short USB cable ‘professional USB music interface’ as roominess and the stereo image was oxymoronic may have to think again. slightly better defined. A superb product that proves beyond doubt that USB audio is So what’s special about the Apogee capable of working flawlessly and ONE? Well for starters Apogee might say Converted delivering professional results. that its primary function isn’t really Granted, Apogee is a company that’s ★★★★★★★★★★ audio interfacing at all. The ONE is renowned for the quality of its www.musictechmag.co.uk MusicTech focus Recording Techniques 115 .