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Archive for the ‘Gear’ Category

Review: TC Electronic Impact Twin

Friday, December 9th, 2011

Overview
The TC Electronic Impact Twin is a mid-level firewire interface with 14 inputs and outputs. It has two preamps, onboard effects, S/PDIF, ADAT Lightpipe and MIDI I/O. It’s not as compact as some other interfaces but packs a ton of features and i/o yet still small enough to fit in a backpack.

The Impact Twin caught my eye in spring 2011. I was looking for a more compact replacement to my M-Audio Profire 2626 (see review here), or a way to expand the I/O of my system, or at least a portable option so I don’t have to tear apart my studio all the time I go out to record. I trust TC Electronic to make nice clean digital gear, for about $400 it had pretty much every feature and function I wanted. I ordered one through Revolution Audio (note: I work for this company and got dealer pricing) and when it arrived I started writing my review. I don’t really have a good excuse why it took nearly a year to write, other than that l got busy being awesome in other aspects. Jump down to the end if you’d like to see what I think of it after about 8 months of owning it.

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Gifts for audio geeks 2011

Wednesday, November 23rd, 2011

Christmas is a month away. I’ve made up a short list of inexpensive items that I and many other audio geeks would love to get this year.

Cheap analog monosynths!

more organized than your desk isn't it?

A bell rattle. Similar to a tambourine tone. Cheap, sounds great

What do you hope to get this year?

Shure SM57 no-transformer mod

Tuesday, September 20th, 2011

Peterson from DIY Recording Equipment and SoundHow sent me this video explaining how to remove the transformer from an SM57 to improve the sound.

This is smart: adater for useless Delta 1010 rack

Tuesday, September 13th, 2011

What is the adater?

The ADATer is an easy-to-use connector-size box designed for use with a rack unit of widely spread M-Audio Delta 1010 soundcards.

ADATer turns your DELTA 1010 rack unit into a stand alone 8-IN 8-OUT Analog-to-Lightpipe / Lightpipe-to-Analog converter. It provides two Lightpipe (TOSLINK) connectors, one Input and one Output and is designed to work without a computer. It uses the ADATâ„¢ communication protocol which allows the use of 8 channels of 16 or 24 bit encoded digital audio each way.

More info: http://www.dangerousdevices.co.uk/dangerousdevices/adater.asp
More info: http://www.gearslutz.com/board/so-much-gear-so-little-time/622702-using-delta-1010-rme-drivers-totalmix-via-adat-adater-explained.html

 


This is fucking smart. M-Audio abandoned the Delta 1010 (for a short time they made a similar ADAT expansion but it still required the PCI card connection to the computer) and Dangerous Devices creates a simple product to keep them from going to waste or filling the tech garbage dumps.

I don’t have a Delta 1010 rack, BUT there is always a ton of cheap ones on eBay (~$100). There aren’t many ADAT devices without preamps, and there aren’t ANY inexpensive options. The Delta 1010 is not a pro unit, but certainly useable. I’m considering ordering a 1010 and adater to use as a line level digital patchbay for my cheap rack gear.

Bass Recording Tips from the community

Friday, September 2nd, 2011

While I was preparing the recent Bass Guitar Recording article I inquired on Twitter about tips for recording bass. Look what happened

@ikmultimedia: Ampeg SVX! bit.ly/l5eNIy
@MarcusSt0ne: Making sure the player is consistent and doesn’t peak random notes.

@jacobgemmell: record a cab and DI two seperate tracks, and when it gets to editing make sure that beast is on beat.
also doubling up with a synth bass can be cool wide

@djdanlib: Yeah, use compression on finger bass, and don’t kill the high frequencies – there is important audio up there

@bobbyjonesmusic: 700HZ is magic for bass recording.

@RecordingBlogs: My very limitted experience with bass on the cheap – bit.ly/qbYfqt – although you sound a lot more professional :)

@pakit0_Q: Low threshold plus a 4:1 ratio plus high output equals a pretty tight bass

@MrTonyDraper: P-bass into Ampeg! Split into two amps, one clean, one distorted. U47 and U67 both really nice, not too close.

@timgosden: make sure they only play one note at a time with tight note starts AND endings. :)

@seankalaras: if using DI and amp, calculate and adjust for the delay between the signals. About 1ms per foot off the speaker is usually ok.

@817audio: I once used this configuration on a 10′ speaker. Provided a super punchy sound. #D2 #SM57 yfrog.com/nuwg5fj

@lucesdaniel: you could emphasize the difference of amp versus plain DI, many people go the easy way then struggle to fit a DI in the mix.

@recordinghacks: bass guitar: steve albini uses one of these: is.gd/BFYX0M (not sure that’s useful information though!)
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Gibson Guitar Corp. Responds to Federal Raid

Thursday, September 1st, 2011

Henry Juszkiewicz, Chairman and CEO of Gibson Guitar Corp., has responded to the August 24 raid of Gibson facilities in Nashville and Memphis by the Federal Government. In a press release, Juszkiewicz said: “Gibson is innocent and will fight to protect its rights. Gibson has complied with foreign laws and believes it is innocent of ANY wrong doing. We will fight aggressively to prove our innocence.”

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