Migrating Sessions between the Audio Studio and EMS B

Now that the studios are being used in full swing, many of you are bouncing back and forth between the different studios. This is wonderful and encouraged. In this post, I will show you what settings to change in order to move your sessions between the Audio Studio and EMS B.

CLOCK:

The first setting you need to change is related to the clock. In the Audio Studio, the clock is an internal clock generated by the Apogee Symphony I/O Converters/Interface. In EMS B, the clock source is the SYNC I/O. When you open up a session from a different studio, if the clock is not set properly, the converters will blink and you will often here a periodic clicking noise.

To change the clock, follow the steps below.

1. Goto the "Setup" Menu in ProTools and select "Session"

2. Find the Clock pull down menu and select the correct setting.

3. If you are using EMS B, it should read "SYNC." If you are using the Audio Studio, it should read "192 I/O #1 Internal"

EMS Setup Session Picture

Audio Studio Setup Session Picture

I/O:

The next step is to configure your I/O to match the converter setup for each respective room. In order to do this, goto the "Setup" menu in ProTools and select "I/O." Match the current I/O with the pictures below and you should be all set.

EMS B Input

EMS B Output

Audio Studio Input

Audio Studio Output

Eventide H8000

The Eventide H8000 in EMS B has not been working for a few days. One of the studio users had gone into the setup features and turned the Analog input level to -100dB, effectively turning the inputs to the unit off.

PLEASE DO NOT CHANGE THE SETUP PARAMETERS ON THE EVENTIDE IN THE AUDIO STUDIO OR EMS B. It makes it really difficult for the next user to know what has changed.

The unit in EMS B should be working as expected now.

EMS B Meters

The EMS B Meters have only been working intermittently as of late. I have debugged this problem mostly, and the meters should be working correctly. There are a few settings that seem to time out every once in a while that you should know about. If you do not see the meters working check the following:

Open up Matrix Settings under the Surround Menu.

Make sure that the box labeled "Read Output" is NOT checked.

There is also a great feature where you can have the software open, but have the meters turned off. You must make sure that the meters are on. If they are not working, goto the Surround Menu and select "All On."

If you experience any metering problems, please let the Audio Staff know by filling out the logbook and by sending us an email

Cooking with Gas

My friend, Alex Hug sent me this article to read recently. Its a very short, but good read from an old TapeOp. Hope you enjoy.

Waveburner

UPDATE 2/20/12: Found my first major glitch. If you are using CD-Text in Waveburner, it will add a pop at the end of the disc. There is a disc preference that says add silence. Add a little bit of silence at the end of the disc and it fixes this problem.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Hey folks,

I'm a little bit late to the game on this one, but I have been using Waveburner to author discs lately and wanted to let you know that we do have this software in the studios. It gives users a pretty good amount of flexibility for finishing work. It also allows you to embed meta data and disc information. Like all pieces of software it certainly has its quirks, but if you need to author more than a few tracks and want to control the pacing and make some extra finishing tweaks to a final disc, this is one good option, especially when using the DMC Studios.

High Fidelity Audio

Article I stumbled upon about sound quality, consumers and high fidelity audio. Its a good read.

Music lovers pursue technologies to return to high fidelity

Surround Speakers in EMS A

EMS A is now properly set up for 5.1 surround mixing. The 6 speakers have been in the room since it opened, however we were waiting on stands in order to have them at the same height as the left, right and center speakers. They are now installed and the cables have been managed. We haven't bolted the stands to the table yet as we are experimenting with placement and functionality in the room. Let us know your thoughts as you work on surround sound projects. Please note that the power for each surround speaker is controlled by the Furman power conditioner located at the bottom of racks 3 and 4 respectively, so you must turn these conditioners on. I don't anticipate that users will have any problems remembering this because these two power conditioners should be turned on at the beginning of every session and turned off at the end of each session.

ProTools Not Launching in Audio Studio

UPDATE 2/16/12: After running disk utility and trashing the preference files, ProTools in the Audio Studio appears to be responding and working as expected.

----------------------------------------------------------------

ProTools appears to not always be launching correctly in the Audio Studio. If its not working, you will notice that it will just keep bouncing in the dock and not actually launch the software. We will hopefully have this fixed within the next week, however until that happens, here is the work around.

If you turn the computer on and ProTools does not launch, open up activity monitor. You can do this by going to Applications and double clicking it, or by typing in "activity monitor" into spotlight located in the top right corner of the screen.

Tab down to ProTools, select it and press "Quit Process." When it asks you to force quit, go ahead and press Yes. Once ProTools quit, wait a few moments and open it up again. This should fix the problem. If it does not, repeat these steps.

Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin Documentary

Pitchfork just released a documentary on the creation of landmark album by The Flaming Lips, The Soft Bulletin. This is one of my favorite albums ever. It is a real masterpiece and the record was put together by using the recording studio creatively. This documentary and the album are both worth checking out, even if this is not your favorite style of music. Note that the band mixes fidelity, isn't afraid to let things distort and made conscious decisions when to sample themselves from demos etc...instead of re-recording everything from scratch.

Pitchfork Classic: The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin

Console HUI in EMS B

Many users like the tactile control of faders, but prefer to use an "In the Box" workflow. For users who subscribe to this camp, control surfaces are a great tool. The API Vision console allows you to use the console as a control surface. You can use the console as a HUI control surface, by simply configuring ProTools and enabling control surface mode on the console. (Please note that the console control surface only allows you to control faders, solos and mutes.)

To configure ProTools, goto the 'Setup' menu and select 'Peripherals.' Tab over to 'MIDI Controllers' and assign the different fields to look like the picture below. This ProTools configuration is for EMS B ONLY. The send and receive channel numbers are different in the Audio Studio, but the process is the same.

Next, goto the Vision control panel and make sure the 'ENABLE CTRL SURF' button is pressed and glowing green. The console should now mirror your ProTools mixer.

Troubleshooting AKG 414s

I have noticed that sometimes the AKG 414s in the Audio Studio are causing users some issues. If you hear a crackly windy noise when using the AKG 414s, there is a good chance that the mic is the problem and not some other piece of gear or your patching. To my knowledge, the mic is NOT broken. Sometimes the polar pattern selector switches on 414s have intermittent problems. I believe that this is the case with the mics in the studio. If you simply, change the polar pattern, it should fix the problem.