Universal Audio WebZine
Volume 4, Number 2, March 2006
[UA Universe] [Ask the Doctors] [Artist Interview] [Analog Obsession]
[Support Report] [The Channel] [Plug-In Power] [Playback] [Featured Promotion]
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UA Universe
by Joseph Lemmer & Marsha Vdovin
Featured Employee: Adam Myers, Manufacturing Supervisor
What is your job at UA?
My position is manufacturing supervisor here at Universal Audio. I manage the production crew that assembles our analog hardware. Some of my main focuses are scheduling, tracking, manufacturing-employee relations, training and managing our production process to meet our sales demand.
“I have a passion for music production and technology. What a great way to bring them together.”
Where are you from and how did you end up in Santa Cruz?
My parents are originally from North Dakota; they moved to Santa Cruz when I was three years old. It was my dad's dream to move here and build a house and a family after visiting, with his mother, when he was a kid. So here I am in Santa Cruz. Besides working here at Universal Audio, I also run a recording studio (Synergy Sound) in Aptos. It has audio, video and a wide range of multimedia capabilities. The main focus of the studio is music/audio production using high-end gear like Pro Tools HD3 Accel, a Studer A827 2-inch tape machine, a very respectable microphone collection and of course a large collection of Universal Audio preamps and compressors.
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Adam Myers at his studio, Synergy Sound
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What is your favorite part of your job?
That's a tough question; I love so many aspects of my job. My work history is in manufacturing and production management. I have a passion for music production and technology. What a great way to bring them together. I can learn the tiniest intricacies of the hardware that we build, and with this understanding of our equipment, I can easily explain the reasons for the methods we use and how to surpass our quality standards and production goals.
What kind of work do you do at your studio?
The work that I do at my studio varies in analog and digital recording from demos to full-length albums to DVD audio/video. I generally engineer and do pre- and post-production for clients myself. I also rent the studio to a couple of engineers who book time with their clients there. All forms of music have been produced at Synergy Sound, including rock, hip hop, contemporary, punk and pop. Currently I am working on a five-song EP for the alternative rock band Out Lie. We tracked drums to tape and recorded the rest in Pro Tools. I am also working on a three-song live video of Good Riddance recorded at the Catalyst, which will be a CD extra on their new album, out in June of this year. I also handled the pre-production for this album.
Synergy Sound has been a private/public studio since 1999, and the majority of the clientele has come in through referral. I am currently pondering the idea of interviewing for a full-time engineer who will book the studio, since I am at Universal Audio for the majority of my day. It's a shame that all this great production equipment is just sitting unused for most of the day. If anyone would like to check out the details of the studio, they can visit www.synergysound.net and/or set up a time to come out and visit.
Are you a musician? If so, what kind of music do you make?
Currently I do not write or play my own music. I played guitar for a couple of years and have also been a vocalist for two bands. I have been slowly teaching myself the drums, and I'm ready to pick the guitar back up. I did go through all of the Digidesign Pro Tools certification courses and numerous workshops for my main focus on the technical side of music production, specifically, to sign, engineer and produce new acts to the record label that I started a few years ago. Tread Records is slow going and in development. The label's website (www.treadrecords.com) should be up and ready to let people browse current artists within a couple of months.
Do you like to go see live music? If so where?
I love going to concerts. Traveling to different venues is always fun. Most often I'll catch the larger acts that come through Santa Cruz at the Catalyst or the Civic. I'll often go support local bands at the surrounding clubs. My video production team, Strike Four Entertainment, has done a few live recordings at the Catalyst. We have five HD video cams, and I put most of my audio equipment into a mobile rack. They have a great splitter there so the audio recording rig gets a dedicated feed.
What was the first rock concert you ever went to?
I think it was Foreigner at Great America when I was like six years old.
Otherwise when I was in junior high I went to a Mighty Diamonds/Culture concert at the Catalyst.
Do you have a "favorite" Santa Cruz moment?
My favorite Santa Cruz moment would have to be, I believe winter '92/'93. A huge winter swell came through town. I was surfing with a friend and caught some of the biggest waves that I have ever surfed.
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Upcoming Events . . .
Musikmesse
Representatives from UA headquarters will be joining our German distributor at the SEA booth (Hall 8, booth J41) for Musikmesse. Musikmesse is March 29 to April 1 in Frankfurt, Germany.
TEC Awards Ceremony Announced
The 22nd Annual Technical Excellence and Creativity (TEC) Awards will be held on Saturday, October 7, at the Hilton San Francisco, on the second night of the 121st AES Convention. The event is sponsored by the Mix Foundation for Excellence in Audio. UA previously received TEC Awards for the 6176 and 2-1176 and was nominated for the 2-610, 2192 and LA-610
Universal Audio and AMS/Neve Limited
Under a special trademark licensing agreement with
AMS Neve Limited, UA will co-develop a series of classic console plug-ins for the UAD-1 DSP Card & Powered Plug-Ins system. Under the terms of this agreement, Universal Audio will collaborate with Neve to develop and market software emulations of Neve signal processors, beginning with the legendary Neve 1073 Equalizer.
"Neve is a brand synonymous with landmark recording equipment innovations and some of the best-sounding consoles and audio hardware designs of the past 40 years," said Matt Ward, President of Universal Audio. "To say we are excited about having the opportunity to bring these time-honored classics and the Neve brand to the DAW world and our UAD-1 user base would be an understatement. It is truly an honor to have a company as esteemed as Neve entrust us with the creation of software emulations of their classic products."
"The Neve sound is the most sought after in the world," said Neve President Tom Misner. "Its availability as plug-ins will complement the range of Classic and New Classic Neve Outboard Units." Simon Daniels, Product Marketing Manager at Neve, added, "Universal Audio has a demonstrated ability to create extremely accurate emulations of classic signal processors. We are confident that Universal Audio will develop the Neve plug-ins with the skill necessary to maintain and strengthen Neve's outstanding reputation."
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The 7th Annual Young Film Composers Competition
Universal Audio is once again a sponsor of the Turner Classic Movies Young Film Composers Competition. Enter now!
The deadline for entries is March 31, 2006
Don't miss the interview with last year's third-prize winner, Glenn Morrissette, in January's "The Channel."
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Tech Talk . . .
UAD-1 Macintosh OS Support Change for UAD-1 version 4.3
With UAD-1 software version 4.3, Universal Audio will only support OS X Panther version 10.3.9 and any 10.4.x operating systems under Tiger-previous versions of Panther will no longer be supported. The latest version of Panther, 10.3.9, offers superior OS performance to its predecessors. Apple offers 10.3.9 as a free upgrade for existing Panther users. Simply select "Software Update" from the Apple pull-down menu in the Finder.
Also, as reported in the
January WebZine, Universal Audio will no longer support Mac OS X Jaguar 10.2.x as of the release of UAD-1 software version 4.2
These moves will free up valuable engineering resources to focus on critical MacIntel support for UAD-1.
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News & Schmooze. . .
Digital Music Sales Triple in '05
According to a UK-based firm, sales of music via the Internet and mobile phones spread around the world last year, generating sales of $1.1 billion for record companies, up from $380 million the previous year. Projections indicate further significant growth in the coming year. Music lovers downloaded 420 million single tracks from the Internet last year, which is a staggering 20 times more than just two years earlier. Meanwhile, the volume of music licensed by record companies doubled to over 2 million songs. Digital music now accounts for about 6 percent of all record company revenues, up from essentially zero two years ago. The real shocker? Mobile music now accounts for approximately 40 percent of record-company digital revenues. Increased sales of master ringtones now account for the bulk of their $400 million-plus mobile music revenues. That's great news, but why are most of the people downloading ringtones sitting next to us in the movie theater?
Originally published in
Sweetwater's inSync.
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Press • Artist • Engineer • Producer Gossip . . .
Universal Audio Congratulates All Grammy Winners, and Especially . . .
UA-user
Gary Paczosa, who added three more Grammys to his collection: one for
"Restless" by
Alison Krauss and Union Station for Best Country Performance by a DUO or Group with Vocal,
"Unionhouse Branch" by Alison Krauss and Union Station for Best Country Instrumental Performance and
Lonely Runs Both Ways by Alison Krauss and Union Station for Best Country Album.
Congratulations to UA customer
Ted Perlman, whose work on the
Burt Bacharach CD
At This Time (Columbia Records) was awarded with the Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Album.
Also a big shout-out to legendary engineer
Al Schmitt, who received the Board of Governors award. Stay tuned for a future interview with Al reminiscing about working with Bill Putnam Sr.
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Engineer Al Schmitt
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Marketing Director Mike Barnes attended the Grammys and ran into Mix Magazine's Associate Publisher and Editor Tom Kenny with the Recording Academy Producer and Engineer Wing Director Maureen Droney.
NAMM '06
The Universal Audio Sales and Marketing team headed to the O.C. in late January for the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) Convention. Dave Crane, Will Shanks, Greg Westall, Tom Freeman and Kendra Boardman worked tirelessly to tend the booth. Marketing Director Mike Barnes was booked every half hour for meetings with magazines and artists. Sales Director Erica McDaniel and President Matt Ward were also booked constantly. The show was a huge success for Universal Audio and lots of fun too.
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Sales Director Erica McDaniel at the UA booth preparing for the show to begin.
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Demo Meister Dave Crane showed the UAD-1 daily.
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Keyboard great Herbie Hancock (left) stopped by the UA booth to say hi to President Matt Ward.
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Hardware Product Manager Will Shanks (left) showed off some the UA hardware to this month’s interview subject, mixer Mark Cross
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UA Marketing Director Mike Barnes (left) with Prince drummer John Blackwell who wanted ‘one of everything.’
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UA & AMS/NEVE
The Big News that UA announced at the show was a strategic alliance with AMS/NEVE. Under a special trademark licensing agreement with AMS Neve Limited, UA will co-develop a series of classic console plug-ins for the UAD-1 DSP Card & Powered Plug-Ins system.
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AMS/Neve US President John Hart (left) and UA President Matt Ward "shook" on the new partnership between the two companies, with Disneyland in the background.
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Second Annual UA Press Dinner
John Hart was a special guest at the Second Annual UA Press Dinner, which is quickly becoming the place to be for press at NAMM.
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The ever glamorous UA Sales Director Erica McDaniel with EQ Editor in Chief Eugene Robinson.
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UA VP of Engineering and Technology Joe Bryan (left) and Electronic Musician Senior Editor Gino Robair ponder the storytelling skills of their tablemate, Media Maven Marsha Vdovin.
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