Using MOTU Interface in EMS A and B

A few people have asked me how to use the MOTU Audio Interface to hook up their own computer to the speakers in the Electronic Music Studios. This is a guide on how to do it.

Step 1: Install the MOTU 828mkII drivers on your laptop. You can either goto the MOTU website and download it yourself or you can copy and paste them from the desktop of the computer. In EMS A, I have put a folder on the desktop with the drivers. It should work for both Mac and Windows. They will be added to the EMS B computer soon.

Step 2: Plug in a firewire 800 cable to your laptop and plug in the other end to the firewire 800 jack labeled "Interface"

Step 3: Goto the System Preferences on your laptop and select the MOTU as the interface.

Step 4: Patch the output of the MOTU interface to some part of the console. You can patch into console faders and route them to the Program Bus. I like to patch into 6TK3.

Step 5: At this point, all you should have to do is play audio from your laptop and turn the volume up on the console. Make sure that you have done your bussing correctly on the console or have 6TK3 selected. Also, open up the MOTU software that you installed and check to make sure your sound preferences are as shown below.

Enjoy working from your own computer!

10 Simple Mixing Tricks

This is an article from a blog that I read: diymusicbiz. I think these tips about mixing are really great to keep in mind. I don't completely agree with all of them, but most of them are really good rules of thumb when mixing. Check it out! There are also some other great articles on the site.

10 Simple Mixing Tips I Live By Religiously

Using RANE Headphone Amps to do Headphone Mixes in the Audio Studio

UPDATE: Half of the Aviom Headphone System has been repaired and put back in the studio. It is still good practice to know how both headphone systems work in case of failures OR larger sessions.

So...back before we had fancy Aviom personal mixing systems to do headphone mixes in the Audio Studio, you had to use a headphone amp and derive the mix using auxiliary sends. These headphone amps come in really handy when you need more than 10 units OR when the Aviom system goes down like it did yesterday. I will outline how to use the RANE headphone amps to do headphone mixes so that headphones are not a problem during your upcoming sessions while we repair the Avioms.

Every room in the audio studio has at least one panel that include the mic ties, returns and a headphone amp.

Step 1: Locate a panel closest to where your musicians will be positioned. Make sure the RANE is on by flipping the power switch. In this example, I am going to use the panel located in the Isolation booth.

Step 2: Patch an aux send (227L Send Out) or a pair if you want the headphones in stereo to the studio return panel that you located in Step 1 via the patchbay. Note: You will need an aux send or a pair of aux sends if you want stereo for every separate headphone mix you want. If you have musicians in the main room, iso booth and amp room, it means you need 3 auxes or 6 for stereo. I suppose you could mult the aux if you wanted to send the same mix to multiple headphone amps in different rooms.

In our case, we are going to patch "227L Send Out" 1 and 2 to "Studio Panel Returns 25-32 ISO Booth." The first 2 jacks will be returns 25 and 26.

Step 3: Every panel has an XLR jack that reads "Headphones" in the bottom right of the panel. Using an XLR cable from the mic closet, connect the headphones XLR jack to the return that you patched in Step 2. In our example, this is return 25 and 26 marked "RTN 25" and "RTN 26"

Step 4: Goto the console and turn on the master aux sends labeled "227L." As a side note, you will want to engage the "T/B In" button so that talkback will feed through the auxes and into the headphones of the musicians with which you are working.

Step 5: Create headphone mixes by turning the aux sends on different channels that you want to send to the headphones. You will want to make the aux sends pre fader by pressing the "PRE" button and then number of the aux you are using to assign pre-fader aux to the aux send.

Remember that each aux(group of auxes) represents a different headphone mix. So lets say that we have aux 1 is for the ISO Booth, aux 3 is for the main room and aux 5 is for the amp room. If I have a guitar on channel 17 that needs to be sent to the headphones. On channel 17, I would adjust the level of the aux 1 to give the musician in the iso booth more or less signal. The same goes for aux 3 and 5 however it would control the level of that signal in the musician's headphones in the main room and amp room respectively.

You can listen to the mix you have created inside the control room by pressing the "AFL Solo" button under the aux send. This will solo the aux send in the room. Note: BE CAREFUL! If you press the talk button while aux is solo'd, you can create a feedback loop. Also, don't forget to disengage the solo because you will not be able to hear anything else and it is a hard button, so the solo clear will not get rid of this solo.

Comment or send an email if you have questions.

Digital Noise In Audio Studio

We have recently discovered problems with digital noise in the Audio Studio thanks to the detailed logbook entries of a few of our users. Dave and I were able to find out that the problem is occurring on channels 33-48. We have not had a chance to debug the problem in great detail, however it sounds and seems that there is a clocking error between the converter and the computer. We will hopefully have the problem fixed soon. For now, you will have to use the studio as a 32x32 setup.

ProTools 10 and UAD/Waves Plugins in the MM Rooms

The Multimedia Workrooms now have Pro Tools 10, ten UAD plugins and the Waves Diamond Bundle! These new additions make the Multimedia Workrooms even more powerful for computer based audio work. I was playing with the UAD plugins a little bit yesterday and today and they are very nice, especially compared plugins by many other manufacturers. The Waves bundle is a wonderful set of utility tools that includes compressors, EQs, reverbs, delays and more. I recommend checking it out!

I will also take this opportunity to plug the Multimedia Workrooms. These rooms have some of the fastest computers in the building and are loaded with Pro Tools, Logic, Final Cut Pro, Motion, Adobe CS 6 and more. Each room has 3 monitors including two 27'' Apple Cinema Displays and a pair of ADAM A7 speakers. Much of the audio setup is paralleled in the Audio and EMS Studios: Pro Tools, Logic and Waves Diamond bundle. Furthermore, the ADAM A7 speakers are the same speaker set that is in EMS A.

The UAD Plugins include:
Pultec Pro
Pultec
Neve 1073
Neve 1081
Helios Type 69
Neve 33609
Neve 88RS
Roland Dimension D
Real Verb Pro
CS-1

NOTE: Multimedia Workroom 1 has a slightly different set of UAD Plugins. It includes: 1176SE, Real Verb Pro, CD-1, Pultec and SSL 4K Channel Strip

The Waves Diamond Bundle Includes the plugins found in the link below.
Waves Diamond Bundle

Enjoy!

Welcome Back/Summer Maintenance 2012

Welcome back to a new school year! I just wanted to provide some updates about maintenance that happened in the studios this summer.

A quick overview of some of the changes:

1. All 3 studios now have 3 displays that function as an extended desktop. You can drag the windows around in any configuration that suits your workflow.

2. The TC6000 remote screen is now mirrored on one of the 46'' displays in both the Audio Studio and EMS B. It is hooked up to the VGA input. Use the VGA for the TC6000 and DVI for the computer monitor.

3. Fans were installed in the API Vision console in the Audio Studio and EMS B that will help regulate the console temperature.

4. A samples drive has been loaded into the computers in EMS A, EMS B and the Audio Studio. They are currently loaded with "Discrete Drums." Over time, we hope to add more sample packs to the drive.

5. The hum in the right surround Alt 2 speaker in the Audio Studio has been repaired

6. Durrough meters were installed in EMS B. They are currently not normalled to outputs 1-8, however you can patch into them. We plan on fixing the normalling as soon as possible.

7. We had a slight power supply issue this summer in the Audio Studio. Dave and I were able to diagnose and fix the problem over the course of 2 days. For a second, we thought we were in for some big trouble. I got to learn how the power supplies are setup and routed for the API Vision Console.

8. The interface for the meters in EMS B was changed and they are much more stable and reliable.

These are just some of the highlights. We completed even more maintenance than this, especially in terms of infrastructure. Hope you enjoy the rooms

The Sound of the Olympics/Sports

It was no surprise to me to find out that the audio on sports programming is a mix of real sounds and samples. The experience for the audience comes from sound design at its finest. I first learned how sports sound design was created while listening to one of my favorite podcasts, 99% Invisible. I found that episode particularly interesting because I had just started doing sound design for a film.

With the Olympics approaching, there was an article written about how the sound design is created. Links to the article and the 99% Invisible podcast show below.

Sound of the Olympics

Sound of Sport