13 thoughts on “Blog”

1. 

2. 

3. Three monitors, no waiting.

   

4. Our new baby is ready to go.

   

5. 

   As a free rebate, Universal Audio will be sending Gatortraks a brand new UAD-2 Quad DSP processor card.

   Now, four times more high quality vintage effects processors available for all Gatortraks projects! 2014 is going to ROCK!

6. We have made the leap and are officially Pro Tools compatible with the acquisition of Pro Tools 11 native software. Looking forward to more work using this fine software.

7. Another DAW platform in the house. Proud to say that I am using Presonus Studio One 2.6 predominately in the studio. It’s got an exception arsenal of tools that include a fantastic implementation of Melodyne Editor and it’s own Audio Bend which is a pleasure to use for tightening up rhythm problems.

8. Well we have switched our DAW platform to Samplitude Pro X.

   Why did you leave SONAR X2 and why don’t you run Pro Tools?

   The reason we switched to Samplitude Pro X is because someone challenged me to listen to comparative samples and then do some experiments myself and make my decision as to which software more accurately reproduced a finished product and I lost. Yup. There I said it, Samplitude sounds better after all the summing of the channels and their effects are done.

   Pro Tools? Tried it and decided it was the biggest hype that I’ve ever seen. Things that I could accomplish in a few key or mouse stokes took a lot of steps in Pro Tools. Working in SONAR or Samplitude is simply faster and that translates to more creativity at a lower cost to the client. I can go from soup to nuts inside of Samplitude. (IOW, every step from composition, tracking, editing, mixing, mastering to burning the final CD inside the same 64 bit program.)

   Look on the Internet at the many people who say that Samplitude is the best sounding software platform out there. If that changes and I can confirm it, I will change as well.

9. I always advise project studio builders to refrain from building out their studios until they sit down and write out what the purpose of their studio is, what they plan on recording and how they will go about doing it. I didn’t follow this plan on my first studio build out and I ended up sitting in a cramped mix room looking through a window at a mostly empty recording space. Someone else would be happy in that situation but for my ultimate purposes it didn’t work out.

   Here is the post that I made on an audio recording user group when I made my decision to build Gatortraks.

   [quote]
   “I have been avoiding this like the plague but it’s come to the point that I either have to sell my gear or start throwing up studs and drywall in my new studio workspace. I’m hoping I rediscover the fun in the build out but after doing my first one in my old house I’m afraid I know just how much work is involved. Unforseen expenses have eaten up the majority of my budget so alot of the work I planned on contracting out will have to be done by myself, friends and my son. The only work that will be hired out is the electrical because I will need a separate breaker box and the air conditioning because I will need a separate unit for this area.

   Mission:

   The space must accomodate 4-5 musicians plus an additional musician(drummer) in the iso booth. It has to serve as a rehearsal space for my church band and gig band as well as a project studio for my projects and others. It will not be targeted as a facility for full band projects although this could be accomplished via my Pod2.0, my Bass Pod Pro and going direct into the board while the drummer is tracked in the iso booth.

   Constraints:

   Floor space and ceiling height will be at a premium. Compromises will have to be made in order to conserve this space. There are some features of the house that will aid in buffering the house from sound leakage. There are storage spaces (master closet and storage/pantry area) on the north side adjacent to the studio area. Beyond those spaces are the master and guest bathrooms. The other walls are outside walls. I expect smome isolation problems from flanking paths and I don’t think much can be done about it because of budget restraints. The greatest isolation effort will be put in the Iso booth.

   There are four features in the existing house that must be accomodated.

   1) The laundry room must be maintained. Recording and laundry will have to accomodate each other.
   2) There is an attic access pull-down ladder in the control room space that cannot be moved without creating more problems than it is worth.
   3) A storage space must be allowed for to accomodate my gig PA & Lights as well as Christmas decorations enough for three families that I can’t get to throw away for the life of me. (But I’m not bitter)
   4) There is an central A/C pad just outside the studio on the southwest side. Two units reside there and a smaller third will likely be put there too.

   Here’s the plan:

   I plan either putting as much air space between the A/C pad on the southewest wall or creating a four foot wide buffer and utilizing this for the storage space I need. I like Ethan’s designs for bass traps and I hope that the addition of an additional layer of sheetrock and the installation of these traps on the ceiling will keep my ceilings very close to eight feet and aid in noise from flanking paths. I plan on using a combination of diffusion and absorption on the walls along with more of Ethan’s traps as well as possibly corner traps to control unruly room modes and flutter modes.

   I have the final four floorplans at my website under recontruction at http://web.tampabay.rr.com/cmodiset/Studio. It is the final four plans that I have not eliminated. The rectangular shape located center mid bottom is the attic access. I plan on hiding that with a foam difuser panel or a modified bass trap that will pull down along with the trap door. Each plan has it’s plusses and minuses. One has a nice little air lock type room that could also be used as another booth or machine room. One has the biggest iso booth but I’m not crazy about the storage position. Another has the biggest control room (which I like) but the iso booth is smaller. I’m ready to make the decision however you can confirm the choice.

   I’ve read the books, I’ve searched the internet. Time to fish or cut bait.” [/quote]

10. Here’s a video of the new Steven Slate Virtual Tape machine that we have incorporated here at Gatortraks. Great product!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76M9M1vDOao&feature=youtube_gdata_player

11. I was pondering the number of 1176 Compressor emulations available to DAW users now a days. It seems that everyone has a “me too” product out there. And every version has it proponents that seem to think that their “favorite noise” is best and sounds most like the real thing.

    Then, I read the history of the 1176 and how many variations and improvements were made to it in it’s history. Even Chris Lord Alge said, when being interview about the Waves version of his 1176 signature edition, that it was based on one of his favorites in his collection. He picked the best unit. All in his collection were usable but in different situations.

    So I suppose it could be argued that anyone’s opinion about which emulation sounded most like the units they are familiar with would be valid. Just depends on which one you worked with. So if you find an emulation that is rather 1176-ish you would be right in line with the real deal. Or then, how would you know if you didn’t have the real deal in your rack?

12. Just released: New drum sample libraries by Platinum Samples for Cakewalk Session Drummer 3. I’ve been betatesting these libraries for over a month and they are an awesome addition to the Session Drummer 3 libraries.

    I’ve enjoyed the Evil Joe Barresi kit for Toontrack’s Superior Drummer for years. Now Platinum Samples shows a little love to the users of SONAR X1.

    I highly recommend the Platinum Samples Products.

13. Future collaboration in the works with Dublin, Ireland artist Cian McGovern. We’ll be working across the pond via the Internet as we track vocals on two Pop/Rock/Dance tunes. Looks like fun to me!