Hello, and welcome to the long awaited Part Two of "What's your dB IQ?" I would sincerely like to thank all who have written me since the publication of Part One to tell me that you found it informative and helpful. If you're jumping in fresh at this point, I heartily suggest you check out the original article first, as the material that follows here will build on the concepts introduced therein. Don't worry… we'll still be here when you get back!

Back in Part One I provided a detailed explanation of the term decibel, showed how the concept was derived, and presented examples of its use as a measurement of electrical power and voltage, as well as sound power, intensity, and pressure. I also wrote about standardized reference levels, and defined several decibel designations, such as dBspl, dBm, dBu, dBV, and so forth. There was also a brief exercise in conversion between different dB designations, presented as a di ... Read More »

You've studied hard. You've paid your dues (or so you think). You've twiddled the knobs on an SSL 9000, used Pro Tools to slap together some fake radio spots, and actually participated in the quaint ritual of editing ¼' tape with a razor blade. But that's all history now. Yes sir… those weeks (or months, or years) spent at Big Al's Recording School and Storm Door Company are finally going to pay off! Bring on the gold records. Bring on the cover of Mix Magazine. Bring on the Grammy Awards! You are now ready to make records, break records, and basically set the Wide World of Audio Production on it's ear....

Gee, I wish things were really like this, but they're not. I hate to whiz in your Wheaties, but I'm here to tell you that life after recording school is not going to be an endless parade of stretch limos, CD-release parties, and royalty checks. If you've recently joined the ranks of recording school graduates being churned out by the thousands every year, congratulations--you are now ... Read More »

For the purposes of this article I am going to assume that most of you have a fairly good knowledge of computers and know how to do things like F-disk and format. If you don't, I bet you have a friend that does. Invite him over, order a pizza, make him some coffee, offer him your significant other.

No, wait a minute, that's going too far.

At least have someone on the hook that you can call to bail you out if you get in over your head. In any case, my intention here is to outline the basic procedures for assembling a bare-bones high performance audio computer from the components that I am using and recommend, and not to go into fine detail.

1. Attach the motherboard to the case using the standoffs that are included with the case.

2. Insert your memory in the proper slots. Consult the schematic in your BE6-II manual.

3. Lift the metal locking arm on the adapter and drop in the CPU (you will see a notch which allows the CPU to drop in ... Read More »

Anyone who has had to fool with audio cards knows that compatibility is a real consideraion when putting together an audio computer. Clearly, the Intel processors are the benchmark for compatibility. What are the viable options then?

1. The PIII Coppermine FCPGA "EB" which runs on the 133 Mhz bus and a Motherboard using the VIA Apollo 133 Mhz chipset.
2. The PIII Coppermine FCPGA "E" which runs on the 100 mhz bus and may be successfully overclocked using the Via Apollo chipset at 133 Mhz bus speed
3. The PIII Coppermine FCPGA "E" running on the venerable BX chipset, which is also capable of being overclocked on the 133 Mhz bus.
4. The new Celeron Coppermine FCPGA (AKA "The Celermine") which natively runs at 66 Mhz FSB but may successfully be overclocked to 100 MHz FSB on appropriate motherboards using the Intel BX (or VIA Apollo) chipsets

CPUs: The Issues

The Case

The Motherboard

It's hard to believe that nearly 2 years have passed since I wrote the original "Roll Your Own" Article!

I have heard from hundreds of you who built the original machines, and I want to take this opportunity to thank every one of you for all of the kind words and input. This time we are going to more than double the performance of that machine, and for only a bit more cash. And for those of you who already own the original Roll Your Own, you will be glad to know that you can pretty much double your machine's current CPU performance for only about $200.

Needless to say, there has been a lot of advancement in computer hardware since the first article was written. As with the original Roll Your Own, our goal will once again be "how to construct a DAW that has the highest possible performance within reasonable economic boundaries".

I realize that this article will be read by those of you who built the origin ... Read More »

Well, it's been a few months since I last reviewed the latest "must-have" gear for ProRec, but I think you'll find the wait was well worth it.

This month's installment features the Dr. Z Carmen Ghia 15 Watt all tube guitar amplifier. For those of you who aren't familiar with Dr. Z amplifiers, think Matchless or TopHat. True boutique amps. Hand-wired. All tube. Class A. Bulletproof. Stunning.

Meet Dr. Z

As I mentioned earlier, I used the Vienna SoundFont editor to organize the patches in my master SoundFont file. The first step was to build a series of "audition" files, so I could compare the dozens of similar instruments side by side. Vienna includes a bank manager that lets you copy patches from one SoundFont file to another, so I built one file with every clarinet, another with every electric bass, and so forth. Unfortunately, many of the instruments were programmed to play in the wrong octave. So before I could compare them, I had to transpose the Coarse Pitch for those instruments up or down an octave, and then adjust the key range each sample occupies in the Instrument definition to compensate.

Once I had chosen the best patches in each category, I loaded the 8 MB SoundFont that came with my Live card, and one by one replaced sounds with the better versions. In some cases I kept the original patches, if they were good, and added the new instruments to other banks. For example, I ended up wit ... Read More »

Several months ago I was mixing a symphony I had sequenced for a local composer when I noticed the French horns were fuzzy in one channel. It was that unmistakable sound of a bad connection, the kind that goes away when you wiggle the wires. I have a fairly complex setup comprising seven external synthesizers, a computer with dozens of audio programs and two sound cards, a rack full of outboard effects, and a 48-input mixer to combine all the outputs.

The fuzzing horn patch was coming from my Yamaha SY77 synthesizer, so I reached in the back and unplugged and reseated both stereo pairs of phone plugs. The fuzz was still there, so I fiddled with, in turn, the wires from the SY77 to the noise gates, the noise gates to the mixer, and the mixer to the power amp. Nothing helped, and all I could do was ignore it for the time being. By the next day, when I was finishing the mix, the fuzz had disappeared as mysteriously as it had appeared. But this experience confirmed what I'd long been considering: It wa ... Read More »

PIII or Athlon,
That is the question.

Well Shakespeare, I'm here to tell you that in many cases it just doesn't make a damn bit of difference. I'll pull out some numbers in a moment, but the bottom line is that both the Intel PIII Coppermine and AMD's K7 Athlon make exceptional DAW CPUs.

Lineage

Here and Now: Serious Competition

I can't remember the first John Hardy M-1 advertisement that I saw. It seems as if that smallish ‘The John Hardy Company' ad has always graced the back pages of the trade magazines that I read. I remember thinking that this simple little draftsman-like line art drawing could not possibly induce anyone to purchase the product, and the paucity of accompanying information did not help.

Little has changed over the years. The ad has gotten a little larger and contains a little more information, like the fact that they take credit cards now. But it is still a simple black line drawing of the front panel of an M-1, with one knob, one meter, and three switches. I remember thinking, "Doesn't look like much to get excited about." Then I started to read the posts and recommendations about it.

There used to be an active community of recording engineers, technical engineers, producers, mastering engineers, the occasional artist, and a lot of coders at a particular spot on line. I became a membe ... Read More »

When I think of the M-1, I think of high-quality audio, and a product that eschews the bells and whistles and flashing lights that are so prevalent on products today.

Now, I'm about to tell you guys some lies, and I'm gonna tell you some truths.

The lies will all be relative lies, pertinent to given situations and changeable as life or the mind of your last squeeze. The truths will always be true no matter what you or I might try to do to change them.

Instead of thinking of them as ‘lies' and ‘truths', I like to think of them as ‘Rules' and ‘Laws'. Man makes up ‘Rules', and these rules really don't stand for much. They are basically pointers to good behavior. Sometimes he even tries to call some of these rules ‘Laws'. But they are just fancy rules, and all rules are made to be bent, circumvented, broken, twisted, spray painted, shat upon, and otherwise abused. On the other hand, God and Nature have concocted the ‘Laws'. "Laws' are inviolate. There is no way around, over, under, or through a Law. It applies, and there just isn't anything that we can do about it, other than to learn to live within the ... Read More »

In our efforts to be all that we can be career wise, we invariably run into several bumps, obstacles and forks in the road. At some point, we may face the question of whether or not we need either degrees, course work or perhaps a shot in the arm in the form of hands on training to accomplish our goals.

We all desire roughly the same things- competence in the form of know how and connections leading to work. But how to get there? When you are early to mid- career, these questions do not have obvious answers. There is no one way to get to where you want to go. All you know is: you want to be there and you want to get there as painlessly as possible.

While this desire is understandable it is one that over time requires the addition of much flexibility and patience. No doubt there will be periods where the path is dismayingly unclear. Sometimes it doesn't even appear obvious what technical know how you really need to have. To confuse matters, there are varying opinions as to ... Read More »

The announcement of MOTU's 24i audio interface in the fall of last year gave me mixed feelings. The 24i, which sports 24 balanced +4 inputs and 2 balanced +4 outputs, is clearly the audio interface solution that the computer-based recording community has been asking for. This is an interface targeted at the person who is doing all of their mixing inside the computer, and who wants maximum inputs, but only needs stereo outputs.

We Are Family

MOTU product family (top to bottom): 2408, 308, 1224, 24i

Yes, it's possible to make a great-sounding vocal mic for under $1000, but a lot of companies have tried and failed. Shure, however, has a reputation for producing industry-standard mics, like the SM57, SM58, SM81, and SM7, and their entry into this busy market space has been eagerly awaited.

We all ended up behind the console for our own reasons. For some, it was a chance to record our legacy, our music that we would share with family and friends forever (and maybe even sell some). For some, once the drugs wore off, the sex became dangerous and the rock and roll a little loud and a little old, it seemed a good alternative to a real job. And there are even some of us who have known all along that our dream job would involve long days, little money, ear fatigue, serious relationship issues and a basic lack of a life for this thing called audio.

Idealism in the Real World