Innehållsförteckning för July 2017 från Future Music

LIKE IT? TRY THESE… Hadouken! For the Masses For their 2010 sophomore album, this grime, dubstep and indie rock, outfit enlisted Noisia on production duties. Punchy! ADD THESE TO YOUR PLAYLIST: Rebirth, Ugly, Mic Check I Am Legion I Am Legion Self-titled debut from the speaker-bothering supergroup, comprising members of Foreign Beggars and Noisia. ADD THESE TO YOUR PLAYLIST: Make Those Move, Foil, Ice Amon Tobin Bricolage Noisia hold Mr Tobin in extremely high regard. Peep his debut blast of breakbeat science to see how he burst onto the scene. ADD THESE TO YOUR PLAYLIST: Yasawas, Creatures, Mission Noisia FabricLive.40 One of the heaviest Fabric mixes, and that’s saying something. A riot of styles and cone-melting bass. Lovely. ADD THESE TO YOUR PLAYLIST: Cannonball, Concussion, Mudslide Noisia Outer Edges Remixes…

Robert Hood Paradygm Shift Dekmantel Two mainstays of underground techno, Robert Hood and Dekmantel, come together for an uncompromising album of minimal-edged techno. Celebrating the Dutch imprint’s 50th release, the Detroit veteran gets back to basics on his first record since 2012. Repetitive programming, robust drums, thick slabs of bass, dubby atmospheres, looping synths, cranked up tempos and unflinching rhythms are the order of the day as Hood launches into the relentless assault. The album offers very little in melody or respite, instead opting to bristle with a firing intensity that ramps energy levels to an intoxicating high point. Constructed with deft skill, the album builds complex rhythm structures into hard-hitting grooves that have a direct impact and convey a real sense of urgency. Rapid-firing drum machines and spine-tingling synth…

Sending vocals through a virtual amp Looking to bring a different flavour to vocal treatments? Don’t discount re-amped, driven vocals as a possibility, even at lower levels in the mix Driven vocal sounds are more commonly associated with brazen, aggressive pop tracks. For example, take the characteristic sound of Pink’s Get The Party Started as a showcase for this technique. Even if you’re working on more delicate, fragile vocals, there’s nothing to stop you blending in some amped grit – in fact, this is an extremely effective technique if a vocalist has sung quietly, as the increased harmonic range and slightly biting sound can help make a ‘less pure’ treatment, often blending well with more introspective (or downright miserable) lyrical content. Parallel chains are often more…

Adding amp sims to synth leads If you’re looking for increased power in your synth lines, the driven sound of amp simulation can offer something that regular distortion can’t It should come as no surprise that re-amping lead lines is often extremely effective at putting bite, power and drive in your mixes; after all, amps themselves are an integral part of every lead guitar line ever heard. But as we’ll see in the following steps, using either hardware or software amplifiers can prove effective on lead lines not generated by guitar parts too. We’ve got a lead synth line which is sounding rich, but flat and un-dynamic; it’s certainly not threatening to burst through the mix and take over the track as we might like it to. To rectify this,…

Feeding amp sims to other effects Guitarists love effects pedal chains, and coupling an amp simulator plugin to other effects in a DAW offers the same creativity to electronic musicians Our track starts with some programmed electronic noises alongside a chugging sequence and a beat loop. To this, we’ve added a piano lead line from NI’s Una Corda. Despite some internal ‘reversing’, this piano line is struggling to make its impact felt in the mix right now. We set up NI’s Guitar Rig 5 as an auxiliary effect fed from the piano. After some browsing, we find a program called ‘Deep Dirty Pulse’ which combines an amp treatment with other effects which produce filtered, glitched echoes of the source signal. We add two Delays, via Auxiliaries, from the Guitar Rig…

THE TRACK Reset Robot Guitar Man Truesoul, 2014 © Joseph Branston With a hundreds of production credits dating back to the early noughties, Dave Robertson is a bona fide house music veteran. Since 2009, he’s been working under the guise of Reset Robot, delivering a slew of slamming tech-house bangers released on labels such as Suara, Truesoul and Excentric Muzik. We caught up with Dave in his Southsea studio to find out how he created the epic, atmospheric Guitar Man from his 2014 album Let Your Soul Outside. What was the initial idea behind Guitar Man ? “It’s difficult to say what the idea behind it was. I don’t think I necessarily start with a clear vision. Once the FM organ sound was in there, things started…

PRODUCER’S GUIDE Behringer DeepMind 12 Since the DM12 was first talked of a couple of years ago, there was much speculation regarding what the folks at Midas and Behringer would be bringing to market. Even once the first teasers dropped, nobody believed that this 12-voice poly with its extensive modulation matrix and effects by TC and Klark Teknik would be appearing. Last year we were lucky enough to be asked to demo the DM12 and, as unashamed old-school analogue poly lovers, we immediately fell in love with its vintage yet modern sound. While many of the great demos focused more on the electronic side of things, we knew the DM12 would fit well with ’70s and ’80s funk, soul and r&b. As a contrast, we thought it would be nice…

QUICK TIPS 1 Emulating vintage analogues: The DM12 has a very mouldable, ‘chameleonlike’ tone, but if it’s old and drifty you’re after, employ the oscillator and parameter drift options which work wonders! 2 Hands-free pitchbending: Assign aftertouch to bend pitch in the matrix, or use the ‘fingered’ portamento options to glide between notes only when they are played legato-style. 3 Assigning pitch-mod: Instead of using a mod matrix slot, hit ‘edit’ under DCO1 & 2 and set your aftertouch and mod wheel to pitch-mod amounts in the menu. 4 Juno-style chorus: Select the ‘Chorus D’ effect and using the SW4 stage only, you can get some very Juno chorus-ish tones! Add pan-spread for extra wideness. 5 Bass: To bump lows, use one of the EQ effects or the ‘bass boost’…

Behringer DeepMind 12 Craft killer synth brass! Warm and punchy synth brass is a staple sound of soul, funk and electronica! Here’s how to get it happening on the DM12… 01 > Initialise your sound by pressing Prog and Compare. Turn off the pulsewave on DCO1, kill the long release on the VCA and VCF and also turn off velocity sensitivity to filter and amp too for authenticity. You’ll now have a standard poly-saw sound. 02 > Add pitch wobble via aftertouch and LFO1 by hitting the ‘edit’ button under the DCO1 & 2 section, then tweak LFO1 rate to taste. Instant Funk! Now, to spice up the sound, add back the DCO1 pulsewave and tweak the PWM slider to taste. 03 > To add detuning and vibe, firstly add…

QUICK TIPS 1 Using compressors doesn’t mean making things louder. To compare compressed and uncompressed signals, match both signals’ output volumes as closely as you can. It’s the ‘internal’ dynamic shape of a sound – rather than just its overall volume – that counts here. 2 If your chosen compressor features a Mix dial, this lets you set a balance between the Dry, unprocessed sound and its compressed treatment. This is a great way to reduce more extreme compression settings if they sound overpowering. 3 If there’s no Mix dial, your compressor can still be used for parallel treatments. Set up your chosen compressor on a new auxiliary channel and use the auxiliary volume fader to introduce the parallel signal alongside the original. 4 If you’ve bounced a mix file…

In The Studio T. Raumschmiere Following a catalogue of aggressive Electronic Pop releases, Marco Haas has embraced the tranquil side of his personality with his latest T. Raumschmiere album, Heimat. Danny Turner chats to the techno punk DJ about his explorations in ambient and new love of modular © Joseph Branston With his background as a hardcore punk, Berlin-based Marco Haas has always been one to push, prod and provoke, whether drumming with his rock band Stormbow or utilising cold electronics for his gritty, industrial-sounding side project Shrubbn!!. Under the longstanding moniker T. Raumschmiere, Haas has been labelled King of Gnarz for his frenzied use of sampled loops. With his intense stage antics and larger than life personality, Haas is driven by an incessant hunger to search out new means…

STUDIO/DAW INTEGRATION As Steinberg is a subsidiary of Yamaha, it’s no surprise that Cubase AI is bundled in with the MX88, and that several of its functions are designed to specifically integrate with Cubase/Cubase Ai. For starters, the MX88 allows you to transmit and receive audio and MIDI to and from your DAW via USB, plus there’s normal MIDI in/out connectivity too. Essentially, this means the MX88 can become a fully integrated 16-part multitimbral MIDI sound module and two-channel audio interface. The DAW Remote function turns the MX88 into a fully integrated controller and there are also simple controller mapping templates onboard for use with Logic, Sonar and Digital Performer. All theses handy features help put the MX88 at the centre of your setup.…

MAGIC MAPPINGS When you’ve finished sculpting the main sound, it’s time to flip to the Modulation page. In addition to Envelope control for each source sound, clicking the Mappings button enables you to choose more targets and sources. Phobos’s settings can also be modified by your host’s DAW automation, and there’s also support – via MPE mode – for multi-gesture controllers such as Roli’s Seaboard range. Scaling assignments is nicely done, with graphs on the right-hand side of the Mappings page to select the range of the parameters you’ve chosen.…

CLASSIC ALBUM Noisia Split The Atom Vision/Division, 2010 Words by Roy Spencer © Rutger Prins After exploding onto the D&B scene with a string of devastating singles and a savage FabricLive mix, Noisia kept the shockwaves going with their debut album, Split The Atom. The trio of Nik Roos, Martijn van Sonderen, and Thijs de Vlieger effortlessly mixed skull-steppin’ jungle, fierce breakbeat science, and a new style called dubstep, into the perfect showcase for their super-clinical production values, and marked themselves out as a distinctive new force in electronic music. “We wanted to show what we could do,” says Roos. “And we wanted to prove that artistically, we were more than the tunes we were known for at the time. Between the three of us, we wanted to mix up…

ALBUM OF THE MONTH Forest Swords Compassion Ninja Tune © Dense Truth Compassion is the highly anticipated second album from Merseyside producer Matthew Barnes, otherwise known as Forest Swords. His first record since 2013’s critically acclaimed Engravings and his first for UK stalwart Ninja Tune, Compassion marks the evolution of his distinctive sound. The record is still built on a raw, skeletal and experimental beat-driven aesthetic but finds a more layered and polished feel than his previous output. Grainy textures, scattered field recordings, jangling beats and distorted FX are this time layered over lusher bass, strings, brass, orchestral arrangements and more expressive instruments. This gives the record a more confident and assured feel than we’ve seen from Barnes before, as he sheds the somewhat reductive tag of ‘bedroom producer’. Still…

Ellen Allien Nost BPitch Control Berlin fixture and BPitch Control boss Ellen Allien drops her dark and brooding, dystopian seventh album on her own burgeoning imprint. Arriving over three years since her last LP LISm, and a full seven years since her last club-focused record Dust, Nost feels like a love letter to her city’s perpetually evolving underground club culture. Mixing her beloved techno with industrial, bass and pulsating rave, Allien pulls together a diverse soundscape that remains razor-sharp and focused. The atmosphere is dark, sinister and intense, creating an almost otherworldly, subterranean landscape that uses unusual nooks and crannies to explore intriguing spatial sounds to the full. Analogue basslines combine with whirling synths, jacking breaks, squelchy acid blobs, futuristic beeps and eerie pads to create Allien’s exhilarating sound palette.…

Amp simulators on drum & bass Virtual amps can work wonders on both programmed beats and synthetic basslines – here we check out the possibilities on inserts and aux channels We’re starting with a programmed backing track featuring kick, snare, hats and a loop. We want extra bite in these drums as they’re lacking grit and power right now, despite an 1176 compressor being added to the kick and the Pro-C 2 compressor being added to the loop. We assign all of these sounds to a group and then Insert the UAD Fender 55 Tweed Deluxe Amp plugin as an insert effect. After experimenting with Speaker types, we select the GB25, and choose the Rib(bon)-121 and Dyn(amic)-57 microphones. We tweak output level to prevent overload. As the amp is inserted…

DO’s & DON’Ts of amp simulation > DO: Gets hands on. While miking up an amp might seem ‘slow’ to electronic producers working at the speed of software plugins, nothing beats taking time to configure a sonic solution with microphones and an amp in combination; the results will be unique. > DON’T: Assume there is a ‘right’ way to mic up an amp. Sure, there are some best-practice techniques you can read about in this tutorial and research online, but the best advice is ‘use your ears’. > DO: Experiment with the volume of your cabinet. There’s an alchemy between speakers and the microphones which capture their sound and often, volume is a major factor in the result. Sometimes less is more. > DON’T: Assume amp simulation is just another…

Adding bass amp effects in parallel Dedicated bass amp simulators are of equal use to electronic musicians as their guitar amp equivalents are – even in more subtle contexts Along with kick drums, most electronic dance music is underpinned by a bassline, so it’s no surprise we spend so much time designing our synth parts when it comes to perfecting the bottom end. Just as with all other sounds in the mix, though, additional processing often provides not just more power but also an opportunity to add something new and personal to our bass tones. As we’ll see below, that doesn’t necessarily mean having to completely reinvent a bass part’s sound. Parallel auxiliary channels can provide an opportunity to add to an existing sound, while dedicated bass amp effects can…

Behringer DeepMind 12 Keeping it simple Classic funk and soul sounds are generally simple, but they always exhibit a few key characteristics, including – but not limited to – warm, dirty, squelchy, bold, thick, percussive and punchy! The DM12 has a wide sonic palette that comes in very handy for making all sorts of funky/soulful sounds. But what’s required to make those kind of sounds? Well, firstly we need one (or two) harmonically rich waves that we can build a sound from. We generally start with a single saw wave and see how far we can push that on its own, before adding more waves and sound design into the mix (it’s worthwhile challenging yourself to see how far you can push a single saw wave to achieve the sound…

Behringer DeepMind 12 Creating a classic funk bass The DM12 can easily produce some very authentic/classic funk bass sounds. Here we create a staple funk bass patch... 01 > Initialise your patch by pressing Prog and Compare. Reduce VCA and VCF envelope release to zero. Switch off DCO1’s pulsewave and use the saw only. Select the Mono-2 mode by pressing the edit button under the poly section. Set unison detune to taste. 02 > Switch off velocity to amp and filter for authenticity. Go back to the poly selection and select legato envelope triggering. You’ll now have a very open buzzy sound. Bring down the filter cutoff to around 50 and add in some VCF envelope via the envelope slider. 03 > Set the filter envelope attack, sustain and release…

Interview Forest Swords Wirral-based producer Matthew Barnes creates electronic music steeped in naturalistic soundscapes and otherworldly textures. Si Truss catches up with him to find out more about the excellent new album, Compassion © Dense Truth Matthew Barnes’ debut release as Forest Swords, 2010’s Dagger Paths EP, became an instant underground favourite, thanks to its genuinely unique blend of dub-like electronics, naturalistic textures and otherworldly snatches of unintelligible vocal textures. In the two albums that have followed – 2013’s Engravings and new LP Compassion – Barnes has continued to mine those same seams, creating music out of recontextualised samples and found recordings captured both on his travels and amongst the nature-rich surroundings of his home turf on the Wirral peninsula. Barnes’ introduction to music came from playing guitar in bands…

RECOMMENDS Plugin emulations UAD 1176 Classic Limiter Collection | £290 The warm harmonic distortion from the 1176 offers makes it hugely popular, and UA provide three versions of this FET design. Native Instruments VC 2A | £290 Ease of use is the order of the day with the LA-2A tube compressor, which houses Peak Reduction and Output Gain dials to control dynamics processing. UAD Manley Variable-Mu | £290 UAD’s emulation of the tube and transformer Compressor/Limter is a popular choice among mix and mastering engineers, particularly across groups or on the master bus. Softube CL1B | £290 This Opto design is capable of warmth and gentleness but with tweaks to Attack and Release Times and a more aggressive Threshold/ Ratio partnership, it can bite hard. Native Instruments VC 160 |…

MODULAR MONTHLY The essence of Pure Modular The GMSN! system brings you a core modular synthesis setup Glasgow Make Some Noise – more commonly known as GMSN! – started out as a series of DIY workshops aiming to help people build their own modules and devices, understand how they work, and what the circuits are doing. As this grew, modules became available as kits or assembled modules, and they’ve since gone open-source. With a donation, you can have your own PCBs and panels made. There’s also a range of DIY communities supporting each other with group buys. It’s an exciting and growing scene to get into, so it’s well worth looking around. Regardless of open-source designs and the DIY aspect, the Pure Modular system is great for beginners as it…

Spitfire Audio BT Phobos £269 Electronic producer BT joins forces with the orchestral icons for this ‘polyconvolution’ collab plugin. Jono Buchanan checks it out Phobos is Spitfire Audio’s first plugin instrument. Until now, its array of sample libraries have been reliant on NI Kontakt, and through their ever-growing collection, the company’s identity as a creator of some of the most coveted tools for media composition is well established. Phobos marks the next step in the company’s evolution, with composer/producer BT the inspiration behind its methodology. Phobos is touted as the world’s first ‘polyconvolution’ synthesizer. The word ‘convolution’ may bring reverbs to mind, but Phobos applies convolution technology differently, sending four Source sounds through a trio of Convolver units (W, X and Y). Source sounds are chosen from a list of…

Reviews Atlantic Phonic Renaissance €990 Atlantic Phonic Technologies’ first mic goes large with a classic but non-aged look. Robbie Stamp gives it a thorough testing The Class A transformerless amplifier exhibits very low noise and has a hefty output Two things stand out about the Renaissance: firstly, it’s large, like the Telefunken/Neumann U47 it’s modelled on. Secondly, due to its lightweight shell and the lack of an output transformer, it’s very light, quite unlike the U47. The Amphenol (Tuchel) C091 socket (instead of XLR) may also save on grams, though it makes cable replacement more tricky. That said, I love the ‘mini-Tuchel’ (C091) as it screws into place far more satisfyingly. Its comparative lightness makes the Renaissance a doddle to mount on a standard boom stand without counterweighting. The mic…

This Issue BONUS SAMPLES See this month’s selection of free demos at vault.futuremusic.co.uk www.loopmasters.com 01 Organic Loops Jazz & Lounge Horns 02 Singomakers Tropical House Sessions 2 03 Sonic Mechanics Pres. Speed Garage Toolkit 04 Dread Recordings Back to Back: Hybrid Vs Elektrik Blu 05 Loopmasters Pres Club Funk & Nu Disco 06 RV Samplepacks Lofi Breaks 07 Loopmasters Vibe Series Vintage Soul 08 Loopmasters Artist Series Breakage Rolling Drum & Bass https://splice.com 01 Splice Sounds Varien Arctic Atmospheres 02 Splice Sounds Rooftop Afterhours…

RECOMMENDED The Heliocentrics A World of Masks Soundway Records The East London psychedelic funk collective dig deeper into their beat-heavy, kaleidoscopic sound for their fourth studio album. Their first record for the always-on-point Soundway Records, A World of Masks explores a typically diverse and exciting range of sounds. Expertly weaving its unpredictable and restless journey through jazz, hip-hop, funk, psych, krautrock and tropical sounds, the imaginative outfit drift through varying styles, tempos and atmospheres with assured ease. The entire record has a natural and easy-flowing energy, conjured in no small part by the band’s improvisational attitude and spirit. Vocalist Barbora Patkova joins the band for this record, adding a passionate voice to their upfront sound. A World of Masks creates an immersive world where you can get lost among rich…

Amps & Re-amping A universe of distorted realities We all know what distortion sounds like, but being able to differentiate between types of distortion is something of a dark art. Guitar processing has always revolved heavily around distortion techniques, and virtual amp software is a gateway to a world of flavours, both analogue and digital. So what’s the difference? Fundamentally, distortion is a mismatch between your output and the original input. This ‘non-linearity’ – to use a heady term – basically means that you don’t get out what you originally put in. So in a scientific sense, any effects processor could be said to create distortion; in practice, though, distortion is a far more specific sonic process. When a system is overloaded, audio waveforms will start to flatten at their…

Florian Meindl Florian Meindl The modular techno meister has patched himself into a lot of projects, only one of which is his new album. Hamish Mackintosh visits his Berlin studio to talk modular mindsets, live performance, and compression workarounds © Joseph Branston Florian Meindl is a seriously busy man. As if running his own Flash Recordings imprint wasn’t enough, Meindl also brings his technical prowess and sound-design genius to sample packs, which he releases under his Riemann Kollektion brand, and keeps himself out of trouble during his downtime with the manufacturing of Eurorack gear with his Riemann Modular project. It may come as a surprise, then, that Florian Meindl found the time to create his new album. Time Illusions is the first of his albums to get a vinyl release,…

YOUTUBE MORE UNMISSABLE VIDEO FEATURES FROM FUTURE MUSIC Meet our line-up of exclusive YouTube goodness. Head online for all this and more! Top producers go in-depth on the sounds, ideas and techniques behind their latest releases Heist, Pillager The prolific D&B maven talks us through the productions skills and tools he used to fashion his hard-hitting banger Pillager. DON’T MISS: Alan Walker, Alone Get in the studio with the masked master as he deconstructs the techniques behind Alone. Roosevelt, Wait Up The Greco-Roman artist invites us into his Cologne studio to break down the production tricks behind the opener to his self-titled debut album. René LaVice, Richter Scale The Canadian D&B producer deconstructs his (literally) earthshaking club banger Richter Scale. Keeno, Enigma The…

Funky Resonant Lead With Punchy Envelopes The DM12 has lots on offer in the envelope department. Here are some tips for quick, funky sculpting! All synth sounds would be lifeless without envelopes adding time-based evolution. The DM12 has the usual amp and filter ADSRs (and they’re nicely punchy too) but in addition, you can also use the ‘curves’ feature to sculpt the shape of each stage of the envelopes in more detail; this is great for rhythmically intense and groove-oriented music like funk and soul. In the next steps we’re going to show you how to quickly make a single oscillator resonant lead sound, using the filter envelope and curves to add squelch, punch and dynamics! Try sending ‘note number’ and velocity to ENV 2 rates on a couple of…

TOOLKIT Analogue Compressors Do you know your FET from your VCA or your Vari-Mu? In the first of our new regular series, we’ll expose all Like classic analogue synthesizers, the world’s most coveted analogue compressors are capable of fetching eye-watering prices on the second-hand market. Fortunately, the quality of software emulations of analogue compressors has improved dramatically in recent years. The reason that analogue compressors have such a popular sound isn’t only down to their ability to control dynamic range but owes as much to the non-linearity and distortion which they bring to the signals they treat. However, this is where confusion often starts. You might know the names and model numbers of the most coveted analogue compressors of all time, but did you know that these use different approaches…

Exploring key compression parameters Let’s compare and contrast some of the most coveted approaches to analogue compressors and the effect they have on drum sounds To get an idea of why different approaches to analogue compression remain popular with mix and mastering engineers, it’s interesting to do a head-to-head test. Through the following steps, we’re taking three plugin analogue compressors and feeding the same programmed drum part to each. We’re then experimenting with key parameters unique to each compressor. So, in each clip, you’ll hear the same original, dry part followed by a specific compressor. In some cases, we’ll compare contrasting Attack and Release Times, whereas in others, we’ll simply experiment with gentler and harsher compression treatments. In each case, listen for how the compressors respond to the percussive transient…

Reviews Yamaha MX88 BK £999 As the latest model in the popular entry-level MX series trundles off the production line, Dan ‘JD73’ Goldman takes the 88-note keyboard for a test-drive! These controllers are perfect for making real-time tweaks while playing live or in the studio Following on from the Montage, it was only a matter of time before Yamaha paid some TLC to its lower-entry products. The MX range is already popular, and a new 88-note weighted version is great news for those wanting to extract the most from its piano and electric piano sounds. Weighing approximately 15kg (33lbs), the MX88 is very portable for an 88-note weighted ’board. Its build quality is pretty solid, but like the rest of the MX range, the case is lightweight plastic. The dials…

BT – A LIFE IN SOUND © Myriam Santos Phobos is founded on many of the sonic discoveries of composer, producer and sound designer BT (Brian Transeau) and is very much the collaborative brainchild of he and Spitfire Audio. After his collaborations with iZotope on plugins Stutter Edit and BreakTweaker, Phobos is the first instrument to capitalise on his sonic experiments with convolution synthesis. BT’s earliest work in electronic music saw him credited as one of the forefathers of electronic dance music and, for some, the godfather of trance. Through the past two decades, his work has taken him in a number of directions, with his journeys in EDM now exploring more experimental glitch techniques, whilst his scoring projects include films such as The Fast and The Furious and Monster,…

Reviews Mackie XR Series from £772 per pair The long running monitor range has two new mid-priced models. Jon Musgrave sizes up the XRs As we’ve come to expect from Mackie, the XRs are solidly put together Mackie’s HR series professional monitors have over 20 years on the clock and many fans, but at over a grand a pair for the six-inch HR624 Mk2, they’re not cheap. The new XR series shaves roughly a third off that price tag and delivers a new rear-ported design with class D amplification (bear in mind the HRs use a passive radiator panel and class AB amps). Available in both 6.5" and 8" configurations, the XR624 and XR824 models share many features including amplifier output (100Watts LF and 60Watts HF), HF shelving EQ (+2dB,…

Reviews iZotope RX6 From $129 Repair and restoration are essential in audio production but iZotope’s RX made them sexy. Robbie Stamp tries out RX6 Composite View temporarily combines related files into a single editable waveform The RX family of audio editing, restoration and repair tools moves into its sixth iteration. The core audio editor has undergone no major changes, bar a slight facelift; with its adjustable waveform/spectrogram overlay display and Photoshop-esque selection tools there’s nothing to improve. Identifying problems in your audio and selecting the offending components is easy, though complex selections are possible (independent time/frequency, harmonic series, brush/lasso/magic wand); but that’s only the start of the journey. On the right of the display is an expanded list of modules, split into Repair, Utility and Measurement groups. My one negative…

Vocoding with the JDXA How can I get a clearer, more intelligible vocoder sound on Roland’s huge super-synth? The JDXA has a great built-in vocoder that’s capable of excellent results. It can run either on the digital or analogue section (or both) and also be processed by the onboard effects too, so it’s very versatile. The first place to start is to plug in a decent mic. You can obtain great results using a humble SM57, but try condenser mics, which are more sensitive to the nuances in your speech. The following tips can also be applied to most vocoders for improving tone and intelligibility… The analogue engine is great for vocoding, as it blends with the human voice in a more natural way than the digital section. Press Polystack…