Music Tech Magazine - Issue 28
Tears For Fears' Curt Smith and Roland Orzabal on recording their latest album in a project studio. Plus, recording drums, and five full workshops.
Publish date: 17 June 2005
Issue 28 of Music Tech Magazine is out now in newsagents throughout the UK.
Kicking off the July issue, we talk to Tears For Fears about the recording of their recent album release Everybody Loves A Happy Ending. After the studio excesses for which band members Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith were renowned in the 80s, and the fairly acrimonious split that followed, it was a bit of a surprise to hear that the band had reformed. And it was possibly even more surprising to find out that this time around they chose new member Charlton Pettus' LA project studio as the location for the recording. Turning their back on the big studio facilities of old, the boys have definitely returned to form with an album that bears the organic hallmark of the project studio environment. To find out exactly how they went about it, you’ll need to read the full interview.
In issue 26, studio engineer Huw Price started a two-part look at recording drums by detailing exactly which mics to use on each kit element and how to set them up. This month, he returns to the subject with the concluding instalment. In his detailed feature, Huw looks at the rest of the signal chain, conducting the session and processing the resulting recordings. Your drum tracks will never be the same again!
One thing that came across loud and clear from our recent Reader
Survey was exactly how important Ableton Live has become to the music
making of many of you. One of the new generation of ‘playable
sequencers’, Live 4 has captured the zeitgeist and is an application
that’s contributing to the blurring of boundaries between the studio
and live environments. Self-confessed bedroom studio rat Markkus Rovito
will be writing bi-monthly workshops to help you get to grips with the
intricacies of Live 4. In this issue’s first offering, he demonstrates
how to master Beat Scrambling with Live’s Clip Envelope feature.
In
our other workshops this month, we look at the Warping tool in Cubase,
Freezing in Sonar, recording audio in Reason 3 (yes, you can!), and pay
a second visit to Logic’s Sculpture studio… Ten MInute Masters in this
issue, give you the technical inside track on Microphone Design and
Compression.
And, of course, there’s always new kit to be reviewed. In Issue 28 we finally get to look at the complete version of Tracktion 2, and what a stir this new release is causing. Priced at just over 100 quid, T2 refines the concept of single-screen editing while still managing to deliver a raft of incredibly powerful features. Don’t miss out on finding out why Tracktion looks set to make a very big splash this year. Other reviews include Altiverb 5, Stanton’s FinalScratch 2 and Pro Tools M-Powered - Digidesign’s latest release that brings the ultimate pro recording software to owners of 11 M-Audio devices.
An issue not to be missed!
On the CD
• Mechanica EXCLUSIVE!
A collection of more than 200 beats
and loops recorded by Bil Bryant and Frank Sanderson of sampling house
PowerFX, exclusively for Music Tech Magazine. Bil and Frank created the
loops through a combination of programming and live drumming using a
Roland V-Drum kit. The V-Drum kit was used to control a sampler loaded
with unusual rhythmic sound effects and industrial hits in both Sony
Acid Pro 5 and Cakewalk Project5 v2. The fusion of acoustic drums,
industrial tools and electronic effects gives the samples a unique
edge. There is over 290MB of files to experiment with, ranging from
70BPM slowcore loops to 160BPM techno breaks. All samples are provided
royalty-free in 16-bit/44.1kHz .WAV files.
• Tracktion 2
Had enough of software taking over the creative
process? Increase your productivity by switching to Mackie’s
easy-to-use sequencing software. Version 2 adds even more features,
while retaining the product’s famously intuitive, single-screen
interface.
• Pro Tools M-Powered
The industry-standard software recorder can
now be used with M-Audio hardware. Eleven M-Audio interfaces are
supported, including the entire Delta and FireWire ranges. If you own
one of these interfaces, try this demo to find out what you’ve been
missing.
• Altiverb 5
Altiverb was the first convolution reverb to reach
the software domain. Now in its fifth incarnation, it’s been steadily
improved in every way since the original release in 2002. Find out what
makes Altiverb 5 stand out with this demo version, which includes
impulse responses of 15 different reverbs.
• Metasynth 4
The sound designer’s secret weapon, MetaSynth 4 is
like no other audio software on the market. Version 4 brings the
software to OSX and introduces a wealth of sound-design possibilities,
with a flexible, envelope-controlled DSP engine.
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