Mark Wilder of Battery Studios in NYC gives us a top down view of his mastering process. It’s a wonderful video, check it out!

The setup was simple, my trusty Mac Mini (2.26GHz Intel Core2 Duo, 8GB of Ram) with my G-Tech 2TB Firewire 800 connected direct, and the StudioLive console plugged into the drive. I was worried about sharing the firewire bus, but ran into no problems. The DAW was Pro Tools 9.0.2.

The Setup:

I picked the 24.4.2 and a split snake up at 9am and dropped the gear off before heading to run a few errands and pick up lunch. Returning to the gig around 1pm I was greeted with a board and snake that was already hooked up thanks to the live engineer.

At this point I went ahead and booted up my computer and drive and hooked the 24.4.2 into my G-Tech drive. I had a few issues getting the 24.4.2 to talk to Pro Tools, and after a few moments messing around I grabbed the latest driver from the PreSonus site and we were in business!

I was recording 18 channels and didn’t have much time to get to know the board, so I went ahead and set my Pro Tools I/O to send my stereo out to 23 – 24 and monitored off of those channels. Which proved to be simple and sounded great through my Audio-Technica headphones.

The Sound:

The real question, how does the board sound? In the simplest terms, fantastic! The mic pres sounded great on a variety of instruments. Drums sound big and punchy, guitars cut through the mix and bass sounded nice and full. Even an annoyingly bright Taylor acoustic was tamed enough to be usable. Vocals sound nice, but we’ll be overdubbing new vocals in the next week since we want a perfect sounding production.

As far as the onboard EQ and dynamics, I decided to not use any knowing that I like to mix with clean untouched tracks in a situation like this. But, as we were sound checking I went ahead and turned on the onboard EQ and compressor on my kick and snare and they sounded great! I would have no problem mixing a live show on one of these boards with just the onboard effects.

Conclusion:

All in all, I was very impressed with this board. It was easy to setup and sounded great, and I don’t need anything more than that. In fact, I’m looking to sell my 24 channel Soundcraft Ghost and pick one up!

Price: $3,299.00
Buy Here: PreSonus StudioLive 24.4.2

Vertigo CEO Andreas Eschenwecker had this to say about the plugin:

We are amazed how accurate the plugin simulates the real deal. We have compared it to the hardware several times now in a professional studio and cannot hear any difference at all. Is that good or bad?!?

And here is a wonderful video introducing the new plugin.

You submit your project to Kickstarter, and if it is accepted, your page is setup where anyone can give money to help you fund your project. To entice people to pledge money, you must give packages for each level.

These days, most bands are using Kickstarter to help fund a record from start to finish, but here are ways to help your money stretch further so you can hit your goal (this is all or nothing, if you don’t reach your pledge goal, you get nothing).

1. Raise the money to have your record mixed and mastered, but record it yourself. You can get a great final project this way for cheaper, increasing your chances to hit your goals.

2. Raise the money for pressing and distribution only. Others will be more inclined to give money to a project that is finished, but needs a few dollars to get it out to the public.

3. Raise the money for a music video or remix project. This tells anyone that stumbles upon your Kickstarter page that you are serious and already have a record that you’ve put your own money into.

4. Don’t try and raise too much money. You can record, mix, master and press a great sounding album for $3 – 4,000. It doesn’t take $20,000 these days! If you try and raise too much, many people will skip thinking you are just trying to make a large chunk of money so you don’t have to work!

5. Make sure your prize packages are worth it. Don’t keep a copy of the CD for those that give $25 or more, give it to those that give $5 for an EP and $10 for a full-length. They shouldn’t have to pay 2 – 5 times more than the person who comes to a show and just picks up the disc!

I hope these simple tips help you out.

The Barows – Cold Are You by joshcaryaudio

This record was recorded and mixed by my friend Austin Marti, you can visit his website here.

You can find more information, and download the plugin here.

Here is the press release:

Massey Plugins Inc. previewed a number of upcoming offerings at last week’s AES Convention in New York City.

DRT version 2 is a significant upgrade of their existing DRT software, a Pro Tools AudioSuite plug-in for drum replacement work.

Version 2 adds integrated audio track generation in addition to its pre-existing MIDI track export option. A variable noise gate now supplements the trigger detection algorithm to improve accuracy on tracks with excessive noise bleed.

DRT v2 has an expected release in December 2011 with a new price of $96. The upgrade from version 1 will be free for existing customers.

The CT5 is a revision of their popular CT4 compressor. The sonic characteristics that made the CT4 such a versatile and easy-to-use compressor remain intact. The new model improves on a good thing by adding a high-ratio compression curve option, a wet-dry signal blending control, and sidechain input capability.

Upon release, the CT5 will be bundled alongside the CT4 with a price of $75. Existing CT4 owners can upgrade to the new package for a nominal $3. A release in early January 2012 is targeted.

Mq2 is a new equalizer plug-in that is simple in concept but rich in flavor. Mq2 implements a high-pass filter topology meant to clean up the low frequency rumble of any recorded track.

Its resonance control can tune the amount of ringing near the cut-off frequency. For example, this functionality is useful in reviving the punch of a drum sound while cleaning up the “mush” of the very low-end frequencies.

The mq2 is also thick with analog-like sound. Transformers are modeled on the input and output stages along with significant harmonic distortion inside the EQ circuit itself. By using a “flat” setting on the mq2, a rich sonic texture can imparted to a track without significantly affecting equalization. This makes the mq2 another exciting option for in-the-box analog- modeled coloring. Mq2 has an expected release in Q1 2012 and will be sold for $69.

CT5 and mq2 will be offered in the AudioSuite, RTAS, and TDM plug-in formats.

We’ll keep you updated, and we’ll be reviewing these new plugins as soon as they drop!

The first is, EQ Basics and Beyond (November 9th), given by Barry Wood (author of Waves Workshop: Mixing by the Bundle). The second is, Music Production for TV and Film (November 21st), given by composer Steve Booke (Real World, Oprah).

Check here for more information.