Ever wondered how Dubstep was made? Easy… Watch this informative new video. I’m pretty much convinced this is exactly how it goes.

I’ve recently stumbled upon Izotope’s newest sound design synth Iris, and while it seems to be a very strong sound shaping tool, I haven’t for the life of me figured out a practical enough use to drop the cash to get it. From all of the demo videos on iZotope’s YouTube Channel, the only use I’ve seemed to find for it, is making the soundtrack to my nightmares and the theme music to Dhalsim’s fighting stage on Street Fighter II. My case in point

My guess is though, once it is out there a little longer, this synth tool may shape up to be a very powerful unique synth design tool. I’ll be patient with it before making any assumptions.

For more info, click HERE.
Price: Limited time introductory rate of $149. Then it goes up to $249

Well just as I expected, my inbox has been inundated with emails calling me a shill, over-hyping a product, and “too sexy to report on pro audio.” While the last one may be true, the other two could not be more absurd so in preparation, I had raw WAV files to back up my claim. NOTE: if you really don’t believe me after this, I’ll send you to Pro Tools Session and you can see these are raw files, if that’s not enough, I don’t know what else to tell you because it’s not like he’s trying to sell you a pre for $1000. It’s half that and honestly, if you need that much proof over that little dough, you might need to find a new hobby. So here we go.

A little background on this particular session:
DAW – Pro Tools HD9
Clock Source – The new Avid HD I/O (which isn’t that great to begin with but don’t get me started)
Microphone – Blue Spark on every track (I wanted to keep it inexpensive)

Acoustic Guitar - Breedlove Atlas
Electric Guitar – Paul Reed Smith NF3
Guitar Amp – Matchless Avalon 2 channel on channel 1 (Fun Fact on that amp, there’s only 3 in the world and I have the last one made)
Guitar Effects - Pigtronix Echolution

If you’re looking for the written review of the WA-12 look no further, HERE is the link.
Also for good measure, HERE is a review of the Blue Spark for those interested in buying one to match the WA12 in color. Fun Fact 2: They actually use the exact same color to make each of them.

Ok now that we got that out of the way and everyone knows every aspect of the gear, lets get down to brass tax.
Here we have the acoustic guitar ran through the SSL VHD. I added a little bit of the Variable Harmonic Drive to give it as vintage of a sound as I could

NOTE: I tried to meter these things as close as I could as not to bias any pre’s with the louder is better theory, but seeing as I had no metering on any of the pre’s, I had to use T-Racks metering program to get it as close as I can.
AGT SSL VHD by Everything Recorded

Sounds pretty good right. Well let’s run it up against the WA12 to see how well it holds up.
AGT WA12 Tone in by Everything Recorded

I did engage the tone button on the WA12 to add that little oomph to the track. I do hear less bite in the WA12 than the SSL as well as more pronounced tone in the high mids. So if we’re getting a more full-bodied sound out of the WA12, lets see how it works against the Millennia, which is known for extremely transparent open sound.
AGT Millennia by Everything Recorded

I don’t want to sound biased but the Millennia sounds flatter than the WA12… just saying.

Onto Electric Guitar.

Once again, the SSL VHD
EGT SSL VHD by Everything Recorded

That’s a pretty good benchmark for a decent dry electric guitar track. SSL always has the punch and with the Variable Harmonic Drive, adds just a little of the vintage to it. And now the WA12
EGT WA12 by Everything Recorded

I’d say they sound fairly identical on electric. That’s a huge feather in Warm Audio’s cap due to SSL being a go-to for most engineers on rock tracks. Now for fun lets throw the Millennia in the mix again.
EGT Millennia by Everything Recorded

I can hear just a slight boost in the 8-10Khz in the Millennia but it’s just barely noticeable. All in all I say they all sounded very close on that comparison. Keep in mind, this pre is $449.00.

Now lets try some female vocals.
Here is the SSL VHD
FVOC SSL VHD by Everything Recorded

Great sounding as usual. And now with the WA12
FVOC WA12 Tone in by Everything Recorded

I did engage the tone button again on the female vocal to add more low end and it seemed to add quite a bit more than the SSL did while still retaining the highs. So now lets throw it in the ring with the Millennia.
FVOC Millennia by Everything Recorded

Definitely lacking the same low end either of the pre’s have, it still retains the highs and sparkle Millennia is known for. So lets take the tone button off and see if we can replicate Millennia’s sound with the WA12
FVOC WA12 by Everything Recorded

Not too shabby…

Now just for fun, Here is 3 acoustic tracks and the female vocal all recorded together STILL with no processing of any kind. This is straight off of the pre into the DAW on each track. All I did was pan the two rhythm tracks and flip the polarity with the preamp on the one on the right side.
All WA12 Song by Everything Recorded

As always, Everything Recording encourages everyone to their own opinions, so feel free to argue my points. Just don’t get too heated… No one’s looking for a fight, unless it’s an exact recreation of the fight scene in Anchorman.

Looks like Propellerhead is giving Native Instruments a little scare with the price adjustment and they’re dropping prices on their Komplete Audio package. This package has a sleek interface, Cubase (which isn’t too shabby), a ton of instruments and Traktor LE2… Nice! Not too shabby for $249.00

Having been out of stock due to its overwhelming success, Native Instruments is happy to bring KOMPLETE AUDIO 6 back at a more competitive price than ever – permanently! Now only $249 / 229 €, the critic’s favorite packs serious punch with 6 pristine channels, four analog ins/outs, digital in/out, MIDI and low-latency performance – all in a sleek, ready to rumble frame. It’s not a comeback. It’s a KOMPLETE knockout, whether you’re recording, performing or playing music.
KOMPLETE AUDIO 6 is designed to be flexible, with plenty of options for connecting mics, guitars, MIDI instruments or outboard gear:

• 4 analog inputs: 2 balanced mic/line/instrument (XLR); plus 2 balanced line (1/4″ TRS)
• 4 balanced analog outputs (1/4″ TRS)
• Digital stereo input and output (S/PDIF / RCA) for lossless signal transmission
• MIDI in/out for master keyboard, MASCHINE or any third-party MIDI controller
• Headphone output with independent level control and source switch
• Completely USB powered, with an extra sturdy custom USB socket

Price $249.00.
For more, info click HERE
To buy, click HERE

Continuing my days of yore posts of recreations of analog gear, we have Tone2 Saurus. This one has a twist though. You can get the old school sounds from the classics but it can also create synths that are extremely modern. You also get a built in arpeggiator and gate that allow you to take a standard preset and make it completely your own. The other great facet is the price. It’s only $119.00 and comes in standalone 32 or 64 bit windows and VSTI and AU 32 and 64 bits for mac so all your bases are covered.

Tone2 Audiosoftware are proud to officially announce the release of Saurus Analog Synthesizer.

Saurus takes the high regarded analog sound from the past into the unlimited digital realm, fusing them together with a user interface
that invites to tweak and a multitude of unique sound sculpting tools exclusive to Saurus. All without placing heavy demands on your CPU
or budget.

True analog sound with state of art functionality!

It has been the aim of developers the world over to bring the best “Virtual Analog” synths possible to re-create the sound of classic hardware.

However, unlike many competitors who sell ‘Virtual Analog Synthesizers’ which are at best mere approximations of what happens in the real
world, we set out to create not just another synthesizer with character, but one that truly represents the sound of analog hardware.
We carefully measured and modeled the circuits of many classic performance synthesizers, even including single capacitors and resistors to
provide an extremely accurate analog model, faithfully capturing the spirit and character of these old machines.

Enter Saurus
(more…)

Waves keeps cranking out the classics with 3 new versions of classic consoles in ONE plug-in with the Non-Linear Summer. Now your horrible cover’s of Adele songs can have that analog sound from the days of yore. Waves gives you the tools to be your own boss so please, for everyone else’s sake, add some warmth to your cold teeny sounding tracks with this great addition to the Waves family. I personally put the CLA76 on almost every vocal track I mix, and I bet once I buy this, I’ll be using this just as much.

Waves Audio, the industry-leading developer of professional audio digital signal processing technologies, is now shipping its NLS Non-Linear Summer, which delivers the sound of three classic consoles in one powerful plugin. To create NLS, Waves joined forces with three of today’s leading producer / engineers – Mark ´Spike´ Stent, Mike Hedges and Yoad Nevo – modeling their rare mixing desks.

NLS recreates the sound of:
The “magical” solid state console belonging to Mark “Spike” Stent (Radiohead, Björk, Muse, Maroon 5, Madonna).
The classic console owned by Mike Hedges (The Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Dido, Faithless, Manic Street Preachers, U2), heard on such timeless recordings as Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon.
The British console customized for Yoad Nevo (Bryan Adams, Pet Shop Boys, Sugababes, Goldfrapp, Air).
In the creation of this plugin, Waves meticulously modeled over 100 individual channels in all, painstakingly analyzing and recreating the distinctive color, character, and behavior of each and every input and summing bus amp. Waves NLS delivers to the digital realm the depth and richness that has long been associated exclusively with analog gear.

Features:
Non-linear summing enhancement
Three legendary consoles in one plugin
Over 100 individually modeled channel and summing buss amps
Developed in association with top producer/engineers
Adds analog warmth and character
Global control over all NLS plugins in the session
Controls

NLS Channel/Buss Controls:
Studio sets the console type.
Drive controls the amount of harmonic distortion, increasing the input signal and decreasing the internal headroom.
Output / Trim controls gain adjustment.
VCA Group assigns the NLS instance to a VCA Group, for global control via the VCA Groups Console.
Link toggles between Dual Mono mode, where the left and right channels are not identical models, and Stereo mode, where left and right are identical (NLS stereo Channel only).
Mic controls the headroom by simulating mic input levels. (NLS Channel only)
Bypass deactivates analog harmonics, noise and frequency response effects.
Noise activates modeled analog noise.
VCA Tab shows and hides the VCA Groups Console section.
Meter displays output signal peak dBFS values.
VCA Group Console Controls:
Auto enables automation writing and reading for the VCA Groups Console.
Group Bypass controls the NLS effect on all instances assigned to that VCA Group.
Group Noise controls the noise for all the NLS instances assigned to that VCA Group.
Group Drive sets the drive offset value for all NLS instances assigned to that VCA Group.
Group Trim sets the output gain offset value for all NLS instances assigned to that VCA Group.
Group Studio sets the studio type for all NLS instances assigned to that VCA Group.
Group Name provides a text field which allows users to customize the name of each VCA Group.
Say goodbye to cold digital tracks that lack depth and harmonic complexity, and say hello to the richness and warmth that only analog gear could deliver – until now.

 

Waves NLS Non-Linear Summer is now available with U.S. MSRP as follows: $249 Native / $349 TDM. Visit HERE for more
information.

Warm Audio… Ever heard of them? In most cases you probably haven’t, but I have a feeling, very soon, this name will be synonymous with the word insanity. Now, why would I say that? The answer is another question and is very simple: Why would someone charge you $450 for a preamp that sounds just as good, if not better, than one twice its price? Now you’re probably asking me, “How can you prove this?” Very easy, I own both of the culprits in question

Naming your company after an adjective that is used almost exclusively to describe the most desirable trait in recording sound is a brave move. If you don’t follow through on delivering nothing short of vintage analogue tone, you’ve pretty much lost all credibility in the pro sound industry. Consider the founder, Bryce Young, justified in boldly naming his company Warm Audio. What’s even crazier about Bryce is that this started out as just a hobby; but his designing of custom “one off” preamps and modding of other preamps got him quite a bit of attention from customers. So much that he decided to take a crack at designing his own line.

The unit, no doubt, will stand out in the studio with its orange color and vintage vibe. It comes in a half rack one channel version, but can be rack mounted when you buy two of them (more on why you’re going to want two in a sec). The simplicity of this unit is what makes it so great, even down to the button labeled “tone” that I have determined is linked, by some sorcery, to a (more…)