There seems to be a lot of these around on Youtube nowadays. I guess once the multitrack master leaves the studio then the cat is out of the bag (if one additional copy was made from each copy at the rate of one per year then there would be over one billion copies out there by now). Just type "Beatles deconstructed" or "Beatles isolated tracks" into the Youtube search engine.
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Software for drawing stage plots is available from here. Virtually anything you can think of can be added to the stage from the menus, including mics, and there is an input list window. To think that in my day it was done with pencil and paper...
Some inventions are just waiting to happen. Take the case of mounting microphone clips to a stand (or boom arm). There are two "standard" thread sizes: 3/8" and 5/8" (which has the finer thread). Anyone who uses mic stands has experienced a difficult moment when the stand is one of these and the clip is the other. In theory the problem is solved by using an adaptor, but Murphy's Lay says you will not have one on hand when you need it the most. The other problem is that they tend to either work loose, or get so firmly stuck that they cannot be removed without damaging something. I think that gaffa tape was actually invented as a workaround for this!
Proel make mic clips that have a great idea: the fitting is tapped with both 3/8" and 5/8" thread, so it will screw on to any stand. Problem solved. Of course it is not truly universal, as some mics have their own special clips, but for all occasions when a general clip will do, Proel get my vote. Lately I have been teasing out how best to record drums without actually using a drum kit. In the process I evaluated four free drum plugins. You can read all about it here.
A prototype of this microphone was unveiled at the AES show in 2009. It works on the principle of a soundwave altering a 'smokescreen' which is read by a passing LASER beam. It seems that the idea has not progressed to be a commercial reality. Meanwhile, Optoacoustics do have a product that uses a similar (but more practical) idea. Their Crystal mic sends a light from a LED into the mic, which is then returned to a photosensor. The diaphragm interferes with the reflected light, modulating it wrt the sound. Advantages are no EMI, and very long mic cables can be used. Dr. Rik Pfenninger at the Plymouth State University has put a series of software tutorials online. There is a set for Logic 9, Pro Tools 10, Sibelius 7, Finale 2011, Garageband, and BIAB.
I've recently been miking a grand piano again after a rather long period of stereo miking inactivity. Here is one of my preferred techniques - MS, using a large diaphragm condenser for the sides and a small diaphragm condenser for the mid. The big advantage of MS is that the stereo width can be adjusted after the recording occurs. I had one of these Akai EIE interfaces out to try recently. It is a 44.1KHz / 16bit I/O (there is also a Pro version with higher sampling rates). There are 4 inputs with gain control, flexible monitoring options, MIDI in & out, inserts, spare USB ports. No SPDIF. The weight of the box is heavy, giving an impression of a good solid build. It is plug and play (no driver to install). A cool feature is that the VU meters flash red when the signal clips. No software is needed to set it up as all features have switches on the front-panel (eg instrument, phantom power). The sound is not exactly neutral - it brightens things up, but in quite a nice way. The headphone amp delivers a good volume before distortion. Price-wise it is almost the same as a Focusrite Saffire Pro 14, but here you get 4 mic inputs (not 2), and no software is required. Pro Tools version 11 has been released (to the media, actual product to appear later). As usual the company (and Pro Tools loyalists) are touting it as a 'breakthrough". In Avid's own words "“Pro Tools 11 represents a quantum leap in creative power”.
As has become the pattern, it is expensive ($299USD or $599USD for HD to upgrade from version 10 to 11), but does have several worthwhile additions (eg offline bounce, 64 bit, softsynth freeze), however these are all things that rival software has had for ages. There is a choice of metering, so that's a nice addition. Seriously eroding any of these improvements is the fact that HD hardware will not be supported (eg Control 24), and in the case of the 192 I/O, 96 I/O, MIDI I/O etc will not work at all. The comments on this Pro Tools Expert article express the feeling. Plogue have a free sample player downloadable from here. The AU plugin version won't work in Logic for me, but the Standalone version is ok. You can import samples (including .wav) and MIDI files, play from a MIDI keyboard, and record a performance to audio.
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