Recording - December 2013 - 4

PUBLISHER: Thomas Hawley
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER: Brent Heintz

EDITORIAL

EDITOR: Mike Metlay
SENIOR EDITOR: Lorenz Rychner
TECHNICAL CONSULTANT: Paul Vnuk Jr.
EDITOR AT LARGE: Beto Hale
MÚSICO PRO EDITOR: Fernando Curiel

CONTRIBUTORS
Eric Alexandrakis, Darwin Grosse,
Eric Ferguson, Gary Eskow,
Bruce Black, Marty Peters, John McVey

How we're doing
Hello and welcome! I just got back yesterday from the 135th Audio Engineering Society
Convention in New York City, having spent two and a half footsore days running up and
down the aisles at the Javits Center trying to give quality time to hundreds of manufacturers showing old gear and new. We'll have an extensive show report in our next issue, but
what I'd like to talk about now is what I like to refer to as "the mood of the show."
An old friend of mine from college now owns and runs one of the few remaining large
studios in Manhattan. Pretty much every time the AES Convention returns to New York,
he and I run into each other in the aisles and take a few minutes to chat about our families and our respective jobs. This year, there was one exchange of question and answer
in the course of our chat that's stuck with me.
I asked him, with some trepidation, "So... how are you doing? The studio, I mean."
He gave me a weary but genuine smile and said, "If you'd asked me that a year ago,
I'd have said it was all over, that I was closing my doors and giving up. But this year
things have been really solid, business has been steady and getting better. I'm hopeful."
There was a lot of that around the show floor, from many of the manufacturers and
attendees. Everyone was saying, with that very trade-show combination of exhilaration
and exhaustion, "I've been slammed since the doors opened. It's nuts!" Believe me,
that's a good thing.
Also of note was the large number of students wandering wide-eyed around the show
floor and chatting with luminaries they had only read about in books and on the liner
notes of albums. The AES is an academic organization above all else; it prizes scholarship and the cultivation of a new generation of audio professionals, and tends to offer
a strong educational presence. Recording schools and universities with audio programs
meet prospective students and talk up their strengths, and there are judged competitions
and other events that are student-friendly.
While a "real trade show" like NAMM builds the health of the audio community by
boosting retail sales through customer interest, AES leans toward letting interested audio
professionals who aren't dealers or buyers get together with manufacturers to discuss
gear design, future trends, and other matters of concern, in a relatively quiet and congenial atmosphere. The AES Convention as it exists today is of exceptional value for an
up-and-coming community of audio students.
So: what do a smiling studio owner, tired but happy manufacturer reps, and a convention center full of excited students have in common? Optimism. There's a sense of
real possibility, of the fact that the future may not offer an audio world that is identical
to what was there for us in past decades, but that it isn't all gloom and doom. In studios, live sound, broadcast, Internet applications, and more, audio is moving forward,
and we have a lot of exciting and worthwhile things to look forward to in 2014.
And speaking of 2014, it's strange to be talking about the New Year while people are still
putting up Halloween decorations, but that's publishing for you. This issue features reviews of
over two dozen cool products for your holiday buying consideration, from high-end mics and
headphones to guitar effects and handy gizmos to a beanbag to slap on your snare drum.
We hope you'll find plenty of great products to consider for the upcoming gift-giving season.
We also offer an inside look at a Depeche Mode remix from the remixers' and engineer's chairs, a discussion of bass-trapping methods for small studios, and after two
solid years of great advice we bid a fond farewell-for now-to Eric Ferguson and
Recording Fundamentals. Fear not, we have more beginner-friendly content in development for the coming year, and we're excited to be bringing you lots more applications
articles and in-depth reviews for your pleasure and edification.
All of us here at Music Maker Publications wish you a safe and happy holiday season and all the best for 2014. Enjoy the issue!

SOCIAL MEDIA
Brent Heintz, Paul Vnuk Jr.
ART & PRODUCTION

ART DIRECTOR: Scott Simmonds
PRODUCTION MANAGER: Colin Courtney
WEB GOALIE: Colin Courtney

PLAYBACK PLATINUM SERIES
Lorenz Rychner

EDITOR/PRODUCER:

CIRCULATION
Tiffany Sepe

CIRCULATION MANAGER:

ADVERTISING SALES AND MARKETING
DIRECTOR: Brent Heintz
CLASSIFIEDS MANAGER: Colin Courtney
ADMINISTRATION
Thomas Hawley

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RECORDING December 2013

Recording - December 2013

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