AES 2015 NYC

[roscoenyc]

Javitz Center has a subway stop now!

It's been a while. I'm going up there to have a look around.
I'm mostly interested in 3 things.

1. The latest acoustic treatment products.

2. Converters aimed at my odd corner of the business which is a guy who uses a console and records several tracks at once. Products that would replace the damn Digi 192. I know the Lynx Aurora is one and the Burl Mothership thing is another but it really seems like the manufactures really skip past those of us who work this way in favor of the ITB guys.

3. I'm gonna talk to every company that makes any kind of stand at all and let them know that somebody needs to make a floor stand with an arm for computer monitors. My single least favorite thing is going into a nice studio with a nice console and seeing a computer set up on it's own little desk on the right side. Look, we are using the computer all day. Let's get the damn thing in-between the speakers so we can work and hear properly and not get blasted in one ear from time to time. Somebody could be making money off of this. I'm aware of some products that you could hobble together from office and medical suppliers but somebody needs to make a nice clean one that could be sold to audio people.

Oh, and conventioneers, please remember, water every 3rd drink!

[JWL]

1. The latest acoustic treatment products.

Yeah these are always interesting. Though admittedly part of me is suspicious about the new-product buzz cycle for stuff like acoustic treatment. I mean, if you get the design right the first time, it's kind of hard to improve on them, no?

We actually ran a tongue-in-cheek press release on this a while ago.....

[roscoenyc]

1. The latest acoustic treatment products.

Yeah these are always interesting. Though admittedly part of me is suspicious about the new-product buzz cycle for stuff like acoustic treatment. I mean, if you get the design right the first time, it's kind of hard to improve on them, no?

We actually ran a tongue-in-cheek press release on this a while ago..... :twisted:

Terrific!
I'm going up there on Friday. I'll try to say hello.

[supafuzz]

Did you find anything cool??
I want to talk to acoustic treatment guys as well.

I've had the lynx for a long time now and love it.
Not sure what you're looking for in a converter.
Are you recording thru the console? I forget.
I'm using mine just to monitor and mix.
Using outboard mic pre's only.

I'll be there tomorrow..

[JWL]

I won't actually be at AES this time, but if you guys ever want to talk about your rooms hit me up.

[supafuzz]

Got the book as well thanks Roscoe for the heads up!

[roscoenyc]

Enjoyed the show. My broken leg is healed but not really strong so getting around wasn't really that comfy.

As far as convertors go, yes we use our console. We have 192's right now plus 2 channels of Burl. Basically I was talking to all the convertor people about what would work with our rig (older Mac Pro) and PT HD2 card. I know the Lynx but feel like it's a lateral move compared to the 192. You can totally substitute them which is nice.
Focusrite's RedNet thing seemed to offer a very close replacement. They also offer a way better than e-bay trade in on 192s which is pretty great.

If I wanted 32 channels the Burl is way out of our price range.
A couple other companies including Orion, Fredenstien (Hutch, the lead designer from Manley is working for them now) and Crane Song said that they couldn't tell me they were working on a 192 killer but they did give the wink.

Just when you feel like the whole Buiz is leaving the guy with the console behind then AMS/Neve comes out with their BCM10-2 which is available in 10,16,24 & 32 channels.
It's expensive but it does seem to be geared towards recording music which is a good thing. Even at the high price of these consoles they are a whole lot less than what the big studios spent on big Neve V's or SSL's. Was talking to some guys who reminded me back in the day most of those big consoles that carried list prices well over 500k were leased.

Odd that Universal Audio was a sponsor but didn't have a booth.
I walked by some demonstration at the Waves booth and a bunch of people were staring and the spinning beach ball of death while the demonstrator said his plug in was fine, it was a ProTools problem.

The Howard Massey book is really great. It's 30% off at the show if you get up there today. Also, the new 7 Train Hudson Yards stop is the most magnificent thing in the entire NYC Subway System.

[supafuzz]

I seem to be even farther behind the curve as I'm still rocking a non intel mac PPC that works flawlessly [99% of the time]
So I can't talk to software guys any more as I'm left in the past. Which on one hand is ok as I still love hardware over software.
And Yes I've been a console user all this time and have never been 100% in the box.
But I think there's enough old stuff out there to keep doing the job till I'm ready to give it up. As well as manufacturers building analog gear.

Anyway I was looking at Radar with Pro Tools as my next step up when this system is ready to give up. Rather than getting a new mac I can sell my Lynx and get a killer radar system for just a little more and it may even run my PT8HD [maybe]. This way I can avoid HDX etc and that endless money pit to do essentially the same thing I'm doing now but wit better sound quality [so they and apparently many other claim. If I want to upgrade from there I'd get the super Nyquist cards I guess. It's either that or a 2" 16 track machine bu I'm guessing the Radar would be less hassle and maintenance.
I did finally get to hear the Warm Audio Pultec things and was very impressed. I see a pair in my near future.
Also thinking about a dedicated 2 channel D/A converter for the mix. HILO looked good but it's over $2G. Got other things on the list before that.
Didn't even bother listening to speakers except for the Avantone Abbey's at $2 the pair seemed pretty cool but also low down on my list.
Talked to Glen Kuras about treatments and he had some good ideas that I'm working on today before my 2pm session.

[roscoenyc]

man, I'd never consider Radar in a million years.
Boggles my mind that they are still there.

[supafuzz]

man, I'd never consider Radar in a million years.
Boggles my mind that they are still there.

Do tell?

[roscoenyc]

talk about proprietary?
low track counts at hi res.
primitive eating capability.
I just don't see it as a step up in any way.
I know people who use it but it's not attractive to me.
Not as easy to import or export files, for people to take stuff home and visa versa.
I don't get it.
If you miss the red button so much get a fader port.

[supafuzz]

I have a fader port.....it stopped working....

I guess those are all good points.

So at some point I have to get a current mac and buy pro tools all over again which sucks.

[Injured Ear]

I have a fader port.....it stopped working....

I guess those are all good points.

So at some point I have to get a current mac and buy pro tools all over again which sucks.

I'm running a custom built PC chassis with a Hackintosh kernel so I can still use my original PCI cards with PT 10. Works. The computer was really stable at OS 10.6.8 with PT 10.3.2. I can hook you up with the builder if you're interested.

I've since moved to OSX 10.8.5 and PT 10.3.8 to take advantage of AAX native plugins.
the system as a whole is less stable, but I'm still getting work done. Probably as stable as anybody going HDX and dealing with PT 11/12 issues.

I've also been considering putting Windows 7 on a drive and running Protools via Windows as it's apparently still working fine with Protools and old PCI slots.

It's a science project, but I also lack the funds to buy a new Mac and a new HDX rig.