I can not find much info about this other than it is new.

http://www.sebatron.com/index.php

Feburary 22, 2010

Last month, my friend Bill and I viewed a commercial space with the possible intent of sharing the lease. It was listed on Craigslist.com in the "office / commercial" section as a professional recording studio ("non-parallel walls", "wired", etc.). It was shown to us by Toby Nady. She revealed to us that her husband, John Nady of Nady Systems, originally built the studio and that he was very proud of its construction and acoustics. We discussed with her at length our intentions for the space: to use as an office space for our audio software development work, as well as recording and mixing projects. After exiting the building, she pointed out the other tenants on the lot and said that we had great neighbors who we'd surely enjoy meeting: a tattoo shop, a small audio installation business, and some sort of theater set design company. (These are all cinder-block buildings joined by a metal canopy.)

After some discussion over logistics, we excitedly took the lease. The recording space wasn't perfect and a little raw, but nicely built out with a drum kit enclosure, large vocal booth, a control room, and some additional storage. It also had a couple skylights for some natural light, as well as a low noise floor (with the fluorescent overheads flipped off.) With some spring cleaning, extra lighting, and a little more acoustic treatment, we could create a neat space -- finally a real-world R&D lab for Massey Plugins! Since I've recently hired a friend (former Digidesign coworker) to join Massey Plugins, we sorely need a shared office space to work out of. I have high hopes of putting out a batch of fresh plugins in 2010!

During the tour, we of course performed some high-end acoustical hand-clap tests Within the vocal booth, I noticed there was echo through a former doorway, now sealed over with sheetrock. From the reverberation, it sounded like an empty chamber on the other side of the door. In our discussion afterwards, Bill and I figured we'd throw up some of his DJ records or a large bookcase to block the sound leakage.

During a subsequent visit to Toby Nady's office -- I believe prior to actually signing the lease -- I asked what the space adjacent to ours was exactly. I was thumbing through the lease agreement and there was a map at the end, which reminded me about the reverberant sound. She told me that she thought it was unused.

On the first day that I had keys to the space, I showed it off to my girlfriend. Upon arrival, the parking lot was totally packed with cars. "This is weird," I wondered out loud. But, we soon discovered why. A very large and loud salsa band was practicing in that "empty" space outside of our recording studio. Sound was blaring through the walls. I was a bit unnerved, but had no reason not to believe it wasn't some odd one-off occurrence. Toby seemed incredibly nice, accommodating, and frank -- and surely would have disclosed such details. The man watching the gate of that space seemed uneasy about our presence and chatted with us nervously. We suspected he was using it unauthorized.

On a later visit to the Nady offices, to amend the start date of the lease because of numerous roof water leaks, Bill asked about the salsa band. Toby seemed ignorant of their presence and was unperturbed by the story. She simply asked, "Well, were they any good?" I was a little put off by the lack of concern, but again, trusted we were being dealt with fairly.

Unfortunately, this wasn't a one-off occurrence. On the first day Bill and I began our cleaning spree, a booming drum kit started up in the "empty" space. Frustrated, we left to get lunch and called Toby to inquire. She returned Bill's call and told him there was in fact a permanent rehearsal space next door. This was an interesting omission of information only now revealed.

We have no idea why this fact was withheld. But, it's pretty critical information that we should have been given prior to signing a lease. As it stands now, we are stuck with an unusable recording studio and a really noisy office.

On subsequent phone calls, Toby was indifferent to our position and only stated that "it wasn't a problem for the former tenant" and that "we had a binding professional agreement in place." I was stunned by even the lack of consideration. I appreciate the former tenant's absent input into the discussion, but I feel that Bill and I were the right people to decide whether a loud rehearsal space next door would impact our operations. Had we walked into the building on the day of the tour with a blaring rock band, our decision about leasing would have been clear and concise: "Thanks, but no thanks." We were never given that opportunity.

Now, we're in a bind. We're being bullied by the Nady general counsel into either taking the lease or be in breach of contract (with damages up to $19,800 to cover full term of the questionable lease, plus other miscellaneous legal fees). If we take the lease, they are graciously allowing us to sublet the unit.

Anyway, I was hoping we could get some suggestions from the pro audio community from folks who've been in sticky studio-leasing situations before. What did you do? I've never leased a commercial space before, but know that the protections usually aren't as strong as they are for residential leases. This is in Oakland, California. Our timeframe to make a decision (according to their lawyer) is short. We have until March 1st, or less.

Perhaps, there's someone in the Oakland or Emeryville area that would be interested in subletting this as a rehearsal space or "studio with free backing tracks!" It's $1800/month. It's a very roomy spot, over 1000 sq. ft. I would guess. It could probably be shared between a couple of bands. I wasn't planning on branching out from the plugin business into rehearsal space management, but Nady Systems has more lawyers than I do. Greg, the handyman around the place, has been super rad -- patching up the leaks, fixing the door lock, and staying in touch on move-in issues. So, I think you'd be well taken care of, unless the space also contains a "portal to hell" they haven't bothered mentioning I can be reached at 415-336-0464, if you think you'd be interested -- I can email pictures.

The strange thing is, we've never actually met or talked to John Nady directly -- the person who owns the building and whom we signed the lease with. According to his lawyer, he refuses to talk with us personally. I guess this is what his wife is calling a professional agreement.

Sometimes, I think "professional" just means putting up a facade, so that no one ever has to take personal responsibility for anything. I've always refused to operate Massey Plugins "professionally." I deal with people -- personally. (And, if you ever feel that I'm not, I encourage you to hold my feet to the fire!)

But, this is why I've loved working in the pro-audio industry: It has its business side, for sure, but it's also a community -- a community of really interesting, smart, and unique people across the board -- from the gear manufacturers to the folks that buy and use the stuff. I've made a ton of friends around the country and the world. Going to AES shows and TapeOp Conferences are often the highlight of my year -- not because of the gear or commercialism, but because of the fun had afterwards at dinner and into the night: meeting people, discussing recording techniques, music, the meaning of life, the history of the recording industry, etc. So, needless to say, this situation is really bumming me out.

Steven Massey
Massey Plugins Inc.

The S-type is based on a classic British buss compressor design. The unit uses THAT 2180 VCA's to get that classic sound. These devices shine on everything from subtle compression on complete mixes to hard drum group compression.

Technical specifications : -Discreet audio path -Balanced XLR inputs & outputs -Operating Level +4dB (-10dB also available) -Maximum Output +29 dBV, -Meters reads Gain Reduction, -Max. Gain Reduction 20dB -Gain Boost 20dB -Attack Time: 0.1 - 30ms -Release Time: 0.1s - 1.2s and Auto. -Bypass Rotate Switch -THD <0.055% @ 1Khz -S/N Ratio: 122dB -Mains consumption: 18 watts -Soft Start Power Timer -Shipping weight: 4 kilos

955,90EUR

http://www.igsaudio.pl/

The Spectra Sonics 611G Guitar/Instrument Complimiter is a unique high impedance guitar/instrument compressor/limiter design which is based on the legendary 610 Complimiter, (circa 1969). The 611G is a hand-built, discrete design that utilizes hand-selected components, including British made audio isolation transformer(s).

The 611G operates as an independent peak limiter, compressor, or in combination, respectively.

The 611G provides:

Dramatic improvement in dynamic range and harmonic content

Reduced distortion due to the elimination of transient overload

Improved system noise performance

Instantaneous control of dynamic range, (compression function)

Unequaled sonic performance with either passive or active instrument pickups

Under most applications, the 611G should be terminated directly to the guitar/instrument. In turn, the 611G may be terminated to other effects devices, guitar amplifiers, or console inputs.

Peak Limiting Mode

The “peak limiting” mode allows for elimination of transient overload, inaudibly. (The 611G limiter circuit operates well beyond 20 kilohertz). The peak limiter function allows for terminated input levels, to be increased 6-10dBu, without audible transient overload distortion. The improvement in reduced system noise and increased dynamic range, (signal headroom), is readily apparent. The reduction of “digital zero” overload, as related to recording and sound reinforcement is evident and easily demonstrated. Audio levels operating in the red zone of the Vu meter heretofore considered “unusual”, may be consistently accomplished with the use of the 611G. In addition, the reproduction of 2nd and 3rd order harmonic content will be enhanced by employing this device.

FRONT PANEL DESCRIPTION

INPUT PAD

The input pad controls the amount of limiting, and/or compression/limiting, that is required. The pad allows for up to 24dB of attenuation in 6dB increments.

To preserve dynamic range as well as optimum noise performance, it is strongly suggested that the guitar/instrument volume/tone control knobs be set 50% or greater with consideration given to preserving sonic quality of the instrument signal output. By systematically adjusting the instrument knobs and the input pad of the 611G, the user will establish a optimum balance between the instrument and 611G.

RELEASE CONTROL

The release control knob affects the release time after initial signal compression. Maximum release time, marked “10” on the front panel, will slowly restore gain to the original level.

SLOPE CONTROL

The slope control provides the widest range of compression/limiting ratios available, from 1.1:1, (linear amplification), to 100:1, or a flat slope. When the slope control is set for minimum compression, the knob is set at “10”, thus providing linear amplification of 20dB for input above threshold, (-40 dBu).

When the slope control is set for maximum compression, the knob is set at “0”, for a flat

slope.

THRESHOLD

A flashing threshold LED indicates transients, (peaks), at -40dBu. A constant threshhold LED indicates program material.

OVERLOAD INDICATOR

The red LED indicates audio levels beyond +10dBu.

GAIN REDUCTION LED METER

The gain reduction meter indicates compression, in dBu, relevant to input level and, or,

slope setting.

REAR PANEL DESCRIPTION

29 VDC DC POWER INPUT

FS OPTIONAL FOOTSWITCH IN/OUT CONTROL

OUT SIGNAL OUTPUT, ¼” JACK, 600 OHM, TRANFORMER

ISOLATED.

IN SIGNAL INPUT, ¼’ JACK, HIGH IMPEDANCE, 75K OHMS

NOTE: OPTIONAL INPUT TRANSFORMER AVAILABLE,

MODEL 611GX.

611G SETUP EXAMPLES

PEAK LIMITING ONLY 1.1 TO 1

Adjust 611G input pad so that threshold LED flashes intermittently and the gain reduction meter does not indicate level. The flashing “threshold” level indication should reflect maximum playing level. It is recommended

that the guitar/instrument be set at approximately 50% or higher.

Release Knob =“0”

Slope Knob =“10”

This setting should be used as a starting point for fast attack guitar requirements.

(Often called “crunch”)

COMPRESSION & LIMITING, SIMULTANEOUSLY

Adjust 611G input pad so that gain reduction meter flashes intermittently at “0”

with the input pad set at 18dB-24dB attenuation and/or increase guitar/instrument output level. To increase compression, reduce input pad attenuation. By adjusting guitar/instrument level knobs in concert with the 611G input pad level, a precise level of compression may be attained. It is recommended that the guitar/instrument be set at approximately 50% or higher.

Release Knob = “1-10”, depending upon release time required, 50ms to 10 seconds.

Slope Knob = “1-10”, depending upon amount of required compression. Setting

“1” reflects maximum compression. Setting “10” reflects minimum

compression.

Note

When employing a fast release time and an increased level of compression, resulting audible distortion may occur. Under such cases, increase release time until distortion is reduced or eliminated.

http://www.spectrasonics610.com/New_611G.html

Yamaha CS80 from Logan Mannstrane on Vimeo.

More interview footage to come with Ken and Rod!

http://www.epikdrums.com/

THIRDFLOORLAB ANOUNCES THE ++++ SWITCHMAID

The SwitchMaid makes choosing the right microphone
and the matching preamp easier than ever.
4 microphone inputs with switchable 48V may be combined
with 8 preamp loops.
Preamp send and return are provided on tascam sub-d connectors.

* Fully passive signal path
* Neutrik XLR connectors
* High-quality EAO switch
* gold contact relais
* unit ships with 12V AC power supply

PRICE: 490 € plus 19% VAT (no VAT if in Europe with mating VAT#, or export)

Since many years, we have been building custom tools for professional studios and engineers.
Some of the products date back at least a couple of years. Having these devices
in various forms of appearance (internal, external) we decided to start a dedicated
product line.
Manufacturing larger quantities helps us also to keep the costs down and make
the tools affordable for everybody.

http://www.thirdfloorlab.de/

The VIRTUAL CONSOLE COLLECTION consists of two plugins, Virtual Channel and Virtual Mixbuss. Each plugin allows the user to choose from one of six modeled consoles. Virtual Channel is applied on individual mixing channels. Virtual Mixbuss goes on the first insert of the master fader. When using the Virtual Console Collection, your DAW instantly takes on
the personality of a real analog mixing desk. The imaging and depth improves, instruments sit better in the frequency spectrum, and mixing becomes easier and more musical. You can even push the DAW faders up to find each mixer’s ‘sweet spot’. This is due to the algorithms being dynamic, just like a real console.

Read more
From Slate Digital Co-founder Steven Slate:

The Virtual Console Collection has been a dream of mine for years. I've always mixed on analog consoles because I love the color and sound that they provide, and I missed it while trying to mix "in the box".

The Folcrom allowed me to get the best of both worlds, and I've used it on hundreds of mixes and productions with great results. However, after creating Slate Digital with Fabrice Gabriel almost two years ago, one of the first things we looked in to was recreating the sound of analog mixing, but with digital.

This first lead us to the question: What is wrong with digital summing?

To answer this question, we first built our own digital summing buss. In fact we built three of them. Our conclusion?

NOTHING. Nothing at all is "wrong" about digital summing, whether it be fixed integer or floating point, dithered or undithered... None of these things had an audible effect that any human could pick out in a blind A/B test.

No, actually the problem is with analog summing. With an analog console, the audio path contains a lot of circuitry. By the time a mix is summed in an analog console and gets passed to the outputs, it contains varied degrees of harmonic distortion, phase distortion, and noise. However, it is these nonlinearities that sound "musical" to the human ear.

Fabrice Gabriel is not only a genius at audio DSP, but he has a degree in electrical engineering. He was able to carefully analyze the schematics of all the great mixing consoles and produce individual DSP modules that reproduce various parts of the circuit path, from line input amplifiers to fader buffers to summing amps. Over the past year, we then tweaked the modules by EAR in a mastering room to precisely match the hundreds of test files that were processed with each console.

Keep in mind, that an analog console is a dynamic instrument. As you begin to push the faders into the mix buss, the amplifiers start to reach their threshold and various changes occur in the harmonics and overall sound. This is all recreated in this plugin suite.

In conclusion, I'm so proud of this plugin, and I think it will change the way many people think of "mixing in the box". As we've been developing the Virtual Console Collection, we've been pleased to see other digital models of analog mixing pop up (such as the Harrison Mixbuss), showing us that this was an important issue for the audio industry, and we're glad to add to it.

The Virtual Console Collection is RTAS, VST, AU on both Mac and PC, and along with the whole Slate Digital line, will now be available very soon with a 14 day demo. I'm eager for you all to try them.

- Steven Slate

www.slatedigital.com

Changes: Unsecretly awesome

* Fix for crash in some take related actions
* Grouping: project setting for selection to follow grouping (right-click group button on toolbar)
* Import: prompt for behavior on first import of REX or multichannel MIDI
* Media items: optimized item memory use
* MIDI: allow sending all-notes-off from plugins and MIDI items
* OSX: better keyboard behavior in key assignment window
* Project load: faster filename resolving/caching, better handling of missing files
* ReaSamplOmatic: avoid artifacts when looping very short samples
* REX: fixed possible loop glitch, buggy peaks drawing when importing as a single looped item
* REX: properly save/load imported looped item tempo
* Save as: save with trim now looks for overlapping regions and does not save duplicates
* Sends: MIDI CC actions to set/adjust selected track send volume/pan
* Tempo: MIDI CC actions to set/adjust tempo (coarse and fine)
* Undo: better memory limit targetting (even if it means fewer undo points kept)

OS Requirements:

Windows (32-bit): Windows 98/ME/2000/XP/Vista/7 or WINE (limited support for W98/ME).
Windows (64-bit): Windows XP/Vista/7 x64 (requires x64 compatible drivers for audio/MIDI hardware).
OS X: 10.4, 10.5 or 10.6, PPC or Intel (Intel recommended).

http://www.reaper.fm/download.php