July 1, 2008

Features

Tour Profile: Mary J. Blige and Jay-Z

Jul 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Heather Johnson

Deemed to be one of the biggest R&B/hip-hop shows on the touring spring lineup (its only true competition in this genre is the Kanye West/Rihanna double-header),…

Plug-Ins Go Live

Jul 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By George Petersen

Once upon a time, live sound technology lagged behind new developments in studio gear. Part of this was simply budget-related. Another factor? Road life…

The 24th Annual Technical Excellence & Creativity Award Nominations

Jul 1, 2008 12:00 PM

Listed below are the nominees for the 24th Annual TEC Awards to be held Friday, October 3, in San Francisco as selected by the members of the 2008 TEC…

Networked Amplifiers

Jul 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Steve La Cerra

In its most basic form, an amplifier network comprises a power amp with a computer interface, a system controller (generally a PC) and connecting cables….

Technology

Tools of the Trade, July 2008

Jul 1, 2008 12:00 PM

UNIVERSAL AUDIO 710 TWIN-FINITY Dual-path, single-channel, tube/solid-state preamps are nothing new, but the ability to continuously vary the amount of…

Field Test: Roland Systems Group V-Mixer Live Console

Jul 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Kevin Becka

Two years ago, Roland first entered into the live sound market with the RSS Digital Snake. Since then, the company has been quietly developing a small-format…

Field Test: Solid State Logic X-Comp Compressor Plug-In

Jul 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Barry Rudolph

Solid State Logic’s X-Comp is the latest plug-in for Duende, the company’s external DSP unit. Duende comes in three models: the original single-rackspace…

Field Test: Tube-Tech CL1 B Compressor/Limiter Plug-In

Jul 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Barry Rudolph

Introduced in the mid-’80s, the three-rackspace, single-channel Tube-Tech CL1 B compressor/limiter became a coveted and trusted dynamics processor noted…

Field Test: AEA A440 Active Studio Ribbon Mic

Jul 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Kevin Becka

Audio Engineering Associates’ Wes Dooley has released another remarkable ribbon transducer in the A440 ($5,800). This long ribbon figure-8-patterned mic…

Auditions: Snapshot Product Reviews

Jul 1, 2008 12:00 PM

APOGEE DUET Desktop I/O for Apple Logic The Apogee Duet is a $495 FireWire bus-powered, stereo I/O audio interface with dual mic preamps. Capable of sample…

Power Tools: Muse Research Receptor

Jul 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Jamie Muhoberac

Because I’m primarily a session musician, I hadn’t done much live playing in years. So when a few interesting touring opportunities came up, I was happy…

Sound for Picture

Batman Rides Again: The Dark Knight

Jul 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Blair Jackson

This may be the Summer of the Hero, from Iron Man to Indy to The Incredible Hulk, yet it’s hard to shake the impression that something very strange is…

Budapest Calling: Hellboy II

Jul 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Blair Jackson

With such striking and imaginative films as the Oscar-winning Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy and Blade II under his belt, Mexican director Guillermo Del Toro…

Live Mix

All Access: Matchbox Twenty

Jul 1, 2008 12:00 PM, Photos and Text by Steve Jennings

It’s been almost five years since Matchbox Twenty released a studio album of new material, and in the interim, frontman Rob Thomas has built a successful…

Local Crew: Studio 116

Jul 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Sarah Benzuly

The owner and engineers at Studio 116 (Hollywood, www.studio116.net) are, first and foremost, audio aficionados. Rather than jumping to bring in the latest…

Soundcheck: Paramore

Jul 1, 2008 12:00 PM, Photos and Text by Steve Jennings

Four-piece rock outfit Paramore (the Farro brothers Jeremy, bass; Joshua, guitar; and Zachary, drums and lead vocalist Hayley Williams) are out in support…

FixIt: Bobby Aitken

Jul 1, 2008 12:00 PM

Raymond Gubbay’s production of Tosca features a sound design by Bobby Aitken. Tosca is one of the recent operas performed in the round at London’s Royal…

Sound Reinforcement News, July 2008

Jul 1, 2008 12:00 PM

Stevie Wonder returned to the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival as a headliner this year. William Barnett and Dwayne Jones mixed on dual DiGiCo D5…

Opening Its Doors: Rational Acoustics LLC

Jul 1, 2008 12:00 PM

New company Rational Acoustics LLC (Putnam, Conn.; www.rational acoustics.com) founded by industry veterans (pictured above, from left) Karen Anderson,…

Now Playing: R.E.M., Rihanna

Jul 1, 2008 12:00 PM

R.E.M. Sound Company: Rat Sound (Oxnard, Calif.) FOH Engineer/Board: Brett Eliason/Midas XL8 Monitor Engineer/Board: George Squiers/Midas XL8 P.A./Amps:…

Concert Turns It Down

Jul 1, 2008 12:00 PM

More than 250 concert-goers attended the Evergreen Speech & Hearing Clinic’s third annual EAR-responsibility concert in Kirkland, Wash. at the Kirkland…

Tour Profile: Juanes

Jul 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Candace Horgan

Mixing elements of rock, soul, funk, blues and Latin music, Columbian musician Juanes has risen to the top of the Latin music scene. His electrifying…

New Sound Reinforcement Products, July 2008

Jul 1, 2008 12:00 PM

POWERSOFT K3 DIGITAL POWER AMP Powersoft (www.powersoft-audio.com) expands its flagship Digam K Series with the ultracompact, single-rackspace K3 power…

Recording Notes

My Morning Jacket

Jul 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By David John Farinella

Producer Joe Chiccarelli knew all about My Morning Jacket when the band walked into Avatar Studios in New York City this past November. He’d listened…

Cannon Re-Loaded

Jul 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Chris J. Walker

As a trumpeter and bandleader, Miles Davis was highly regarded for being incredibly innovative and creative. Yet he was equally extraordinary as a talent…

Classic Tracks: Steppenwolf’s “Born to Be Wild”

Jul 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Gary Eskow

The road to becoming a rock ‘n’ roll icon is stranger for some than others. Take John Kay the voice and face of the L.A. band Steppenwolf for example….

Cool Spins, July 2008

Jul 1, 2008 12:00 PM

Various Artists Get the Led Out! Led Zeppelin Salute(BHP Music) Since I’d never heard of any of the artists on this disc of instrumental covers of Led…

Coast to Coast

L.A. Grapevine, July 2008

Jul 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Bud Scoppa

During the 1970s and ’80s, I made frequent visits to the Sunset Marquis, a high-end but unpretentious hotel tucked away on Alta Loma, a side street a…

Nashville Skyline, July 2008

Jul 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Peter Cooper

Charged with producing vocals on the King of Broken Hearts himself, Buddy Cannon figured it was best to be smiling and positive. After all, George Jones…

N.Y. Metro Report, July 2008

Jul 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By David Weiss

His and hers studios? We’ve heard of such a distinction for bathrobes, luggage and even Corvettes, but not audio facilities not until we met experimental…

Hit Factory Criteria At 50

Jul 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Barbara Schultz

Hit Factory Criteria Studios (Miami) is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, and recent upgrades show how the studio continues to thrive in this…

Not Just a Fantasy: Fantasy Studios

Jul 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Barbara Schultz

In the San Francisco Bay Area studio scene and beyond, Fantasy Studios (www.fantasystudios.com) and the Fantasy Records label are the stuff of legend….

Track Sheet, July 2008

Jul 1, 2008 12:00 PM, Compiled by y Barbara Schultz

SOUTHEAST Jeff Powell mixed a new release for Susan Marshall and Paul Mark in Studio A at Ardent Studios (Memphis)At Catalyst Recording (Charlotte, NC),…

Project Studio

Project Studio: S.S.R. Recording

Jul 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Matt Gallagher

Bob Fowler has persevered in the music industry for 40 years while wearing a number of hats as a veteran gigging bassist in the Atlantic City, N.J., area,…

Tech’s Files

Tech’s Files: Eureka Moments

Jul 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Eddie Ciletti

In geekville, there are those pesky pieces of gear that don’t want to be fixed, and then, the mystery is solved. A year ago, a 12-input, 1970s-era Raindirk…

From the Editor

On the Road Again

Jul 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Sarah Jones, Editor

As I write this, more than 80,000 fans are packed into 700 acres of hot Tennessee farmland to hear Metallica, Pearl Jam, Kanye West and more than 100…

Feedback

Letters to Mix, July 2008

Jul 1, 2008 12:00 PM

TALKBACK: YOUR NASHVILLE STORIES In recent sections and MixLine e-newsletters, we asked readers to tell us about their most memorable Nashville sessions…