Paul Vnuk Jr.

I have two of the Strymon. The big one (pictured above) powers the pedals in my studio. I use the smaller one when I play live.

So I decided to do an end of year reorganization of my home office-listening room-edit suite, and now that everything is more or less re-hooked up (interfaces, speakers, keyboards, hard drives), I am left with a big basket of cables… I wish it was an international law that all wall warts had to be pre labeled with the company and produce name. Ashun Sound Machines does it…why can’t everyone else.

Almost every engineer I have talked to who is mixing in Spatial Audio as a blanket term (which may not be a blanket term), does the mixing in Dolby Atmos (the only way to currently create "spatial audio" I think) and then has that same mix rendered/translated/converted for binaural playback which is essentially what Apple, Sony 360 and others use in some branded form or another.

At this stage of my life...Touch Guitar. https://www.touchguitars.com/

I should let folks know that, the publishers have also decided to give everyone who got in on the free digital subscription access to every issue from 2022!

I do agree wholeheartedly with this point. Just like when we get a stereo re-mix of a classic album, it ALL needs to be clearly labeled and we the consumer need to know exactly what we are getting and also need to be offered the choice.

I go back and forth on this topic, and God knows Bryce, and I have had many lengthy offline discussions on the subject. Do I like listening to spatial audio when done right? Yes, of course, who wouldn't? My issues are, like many others I have spoken to on the subject, dictated by my own current limitations of space (where would I put this setup?), finance (how much do I need to spend to make both an ATMOS mixing or listening environment a reality?), and more significant if I build it, will they (the clients) come? As Craig pointed out, a big problem here is there is no market for spatial audio...it streams for free (or $20 per month), which is hardly enough to put food on the table. If someone has positive/yes answers to the above, dive in by all means. At some point, I will dive in and try my hand at spatial audio mix in Logic since Apple has integrated that for free into the program, and all you need is a set of spatial-equipped earbuds/headphones. Of course, I would create an ambient-world beat track from scratch, mixed for the experience. As to older tracks being remixed in ATMOS, it is similar to both when mono moved to stereo in the late 60s, blended with the hi-res audio boom in the mid-late 2000s. Meaning two things: One––very few people are masters at it yet. Some are damn good, but almost every A-list engineer who I have interviewed that is doing it admits to still learning and having an equal number of failures to their successes. This leads to point two––there are a lot of spatial audio mixes flooding the "market," many of which are mediocre at best, and no one knows who did them. My guess is that will balance itself over time. ––––––– To flip the script, I now have to admit that much of my "fear" of spatial audio as the future is just that, fear. Fear that people 20 years younger than me are embracing and digging into doing it without the rules we older studio cats have abided by for decades. Fear that every major recording facility now has a Dolby ATMOS room. Fear that I need to embrace it or get out of the way––isn't this a natural part of the life cycle. I don't want to become the "get off my lawn guy". For instance, my 17 yr old son never turns spatial audio off on his AirPods and does not care one bit about the "original" mix. As the editor of a tech magazine, I also need to at least embrace, understand, and accept that it's here, there are people mixing for it, and it may very well be the future of music. Whether or not I personally like it or ever make the jump is largely irrelevant. On the positive side, I am fascinated by and will support the development and growth of the technology, the techniques and the art of ATMOS and Spatial Audio. Why wouldn't I? It is pushing music and mixing in new and fascinating directions. When done well, it can be breathtaking, and who knows as the growing pains subside what will come of it? Which is to say, I am darn curious about all of the above. If manufacturers and companies can gain new revenue from it, more power to them. Sell more speakers, software and hardware. There is almost zero downside when that happens because, eventually, the technology becomes more affordable and settles in (look at what we can buy mega-powered synths, software and microphones for today). Ok...there are all of my chaotic ramblings for a Sunday afternoon. PV

I know it's darn near sacrilege in the studio world, but I actually think I prefer the ISA 110 sound to the classic 1073, I also really like the more modern Neve 88 a bit better as well.

Since @KuruPrionzmentioned really liking the Focusrite ISA Two, I thought I would post a video review that I did of the ISA 828 about a year back. - Enjoy

Thanks, I am a big fan of the Focusrite ISA preamps. If I didn't already have a plethora of preamp choices, I would easily consider switching to a full ISA setup. Just note that while Rupert Neve designed the original ISA 110 preamps, and the famous Neve 1073, they both offer a very different sound, as is the case with the preamp topology of the Neve 88 series. The thing I liked the most about the new 88M (despite its cost) was its balance of–––does what it says it does––functional simplicity and its sound. The preamps are true to what you find in an 88-Series desk, and the conversion is top-tier (think Apogee, RME ADI and Lynx). Since you mentioned the Focusrite ISA pres, I did a full video review that I can post in a new thread. -PV

I should mention if you send in an email this weekend, Tiffany may not respond until Monday so please be patient.

Here is the December 2022 featured review. A great string library from Orchestral Tools, reviewed by our reviewer John Czerwinski. Enjoy! Orchestral Tools Berlin Con Sordino Strings

The title kinda says it all. We are giving away 25 free digital subscriptions to RECORDING Magazine. How does one obtain one of these free subscriptions? It's simple, the first 25 people to send an e-mail to our subscription manager Tiffany with the subject line: MPN - Free Holiday Subscription, get hooked up with some holiday reading cheer. No strings attached. Again that's, MPN - Free Holiday Subscription to tiff@recordingmag.com Thanks, and Happy Holidays from RECORDING.

The KSM8 is a great mic. I use one often. I feel like it never got the recognition it deserves. It controls proximity effect brilliantly.

Same here! In fact right now I am listening to a playlist of just her songs..."Just Crazy Love" is such a great song!

I have worked multiple ways over the years. Typically most of the work I do is for clients so I am used to spending a week getting mixes close, I send those to them and then they come in for a final day or two with notes and we tweak and print the finals. As such I take this approach for myself as well. My most recent (and yet still unreleased album) was recorded over a ten year span. Because I want a project to have an identity and a consistency, I will set aside a finite period of time and do all of the final mixes through the same gear, with the same mindset. It could be a week, could be a weekend. One definite philosophy I have is mixing is level rides, panning, EQ, compression, effects to sweeten and spatialize. Mixing is NOT fixing like tuning, quantizing, comping, de-noise, etc. Those must all be done first.

I love the multi-tiered keyboard shelves. Who makes that?

So sad to hear about this today, Christine was absolutely my favorite member of Fleetwood Mac, her voice, her composition style, her keyboard playing.

Here's a cleaner, but older photo.

What's a gear forum without a place to show off our workspaces. Big, small, modest, bursting with gear, guitars, keyboards, drums, lets see where you make your music! I'll start... This is my studio Moss Garden Music in Raymond, WI. Its in an old office space in pole barn, and I use what was once a gallery for my father's auction/appraisal business as a tracking space.

I grabbed the free Waves plugin, but have not tried it out yet.

Holiday Buyers Guide: Studio Gear You've Got to Get! It's that time of year again. The holiday season is upon us. To help you make your list for all of the nice recording musicians in your life, or even if you are being just a bit naughty and planning to spoil yourself, we present the 2022 RECORDING Magazine Holiday Buyers' Guide! This year 54 companies weighed in with their suggestions. Reviews We have fifteen new product reviews this month: It starts with the Mac Studio and Mac Studio Display from Apple. The OWC miniStack STX hardrive and hub, and to help keep your Mac Studio safe and protected, we bring you the stylish canvas and leather Mac Studio Case from Watershed. We have four USB audio interfaces: The Apogee BOOM, the LEWITT CONNECT 6, the 88M from Neve, and the Vocaster One Studio bundle from Focusrite. To help connect and route your preamps, processors and effects to the proper destination, we dig into the PATCH LT, a 16X16 32-point digitally controlled patchbay from Flock Audio. We have the Icicle Equalizer from TIERRA Audio. From Soyuz, we have the new 2-channel Launcher Deluxe inline preamp. For your reamping needs, we plug into the Reamp Station and the compact Reamp HP from Radial Engineering. Finally, in software, we look at the Berlin Con Sordino Strings from Orchestral Tools' and the Originals Epic Choir from Spitfire. Features In Inside The Studio, Mark Hornsby offers up a second non-gear-focused Holiday Buyers Guide aimed at helping you hone your engineering skills. In Session Log, producer-engineer Marc Urselli shares his tales of recording the American composer, conductor, and saxophonist John Zorn-nothing screams happy holidays like the music of John Zorn. Aaron Trumm is back at the helm of this month's Fade Out with his thoughts on Holiday purchases and more. If you have any questions or comments on this issues reviews or articles feel free to chime in. Not a subscriber yet? Tomorrow I'll be back with a way that some of you can get a free digital subscription.

By the way, nice to meet you Kuru and I hope you keep up your valuable input here!

So what is RECORDING Magazine? We are a US-based print publication now in our 36th Year! Every issue, we aim to dig into the tools, techniques and philosophy of recording. And, of course, the gear is a huge focus. Every month we have reviews of microphones, monitors, preamps, software and more from engineers and producers putting the gear to use in actual sessions. In 2022 alone, our editorial staff reviewed 145 products, along with four extensive Family of ... Compared round-ups of AKG, Neumann, Royer and Amphion. We had 15 interviews this past year with some of the top musicians, engineers, producers and studio designers in the field, including Stewart Copeland, John Petrucci, Jimmy T' Meslin, Russ Berger, Bobby Weir, Don Was, Lucius, Ross Hogarth, Matt Wallace, Will Kennedy, Stick Men, Ramin Djawadi, Daniel Lanois, and Crowder. Our monthly columns, guest editorials, and articles offer further insights into the art and science of recording. Stop by recordingmag.com to learn more. You can check out our podcasts, video reviews and subscribe to our publication––print and digital options are available.

In addition to being an audio engineer, I am also the Tech Director of a mid sized church and the worship director and I keep wondering if its truly worth it to upgrade from our Yamaha MOXF8 to a Nord Piano or Nord Stage. I know the quality is solid, but they are pretty expensive when most of our players just want piano, electric piano and occasional organ sounds with 88 great feeling keys.