UA Universe
By Marsha Vdovin and Joseph Lemmer
The winners are:
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4th
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Robert Adams |
UAD-1e Expert PAK or UAD-1 Flexi PAK
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3rd
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Adrian Stern |
UAD-1e Extreme PAK or UAD-1 Ultra PAK
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2nd
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Jonathan Ojeda |
UAD Nevana X2 or Two Project PAKs with Neve Classic Console Bundle II
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1st
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Klaus-Peter Zeyen |
UAD Xpander Xtreme or choice of any UAD hardware product
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Grand
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David Boucher |
1176AE Anniversary Edition Limiting Amplifier (Limited run-one of only 500-a $2,999 value!)
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Watch UA Universe for pictures of these lucky individuals!
WebZine Subscription Winner
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The WebZine subscription winner did not respond this month. It’s a tragedy, because they missed out on their choice of a UAD-1 Ultra PAK, UAD-1e Expert PAK, or a UAD-Xpander Xpert!
Just to keep the odds up for those that are answering their email, we are going to draw two names for next month. Watch this space!
Press • Artist • Engineer • Producer Gossip . . .
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| The band Mogwai with Producer Gareth Jones (kneeling). |
Mogwai Mixes New Album With UAD-1
London-based producer Gareth Jones recently mixed the new album for the Scottish band Mogwai. They used the UAD-1 extensively, including the 1176, 140 Plate, Fairchild, Neve 1073, Pultec EQ, Transient Designer, and LA-2A plug ins.
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| Red Room Studio in NYC |
Producer/Engineer Eliot Mazer joins the Red Room
Renowned Producer/Engineer Eliot Mazer (Neil Young, Janis Joplin) joins the staff of the Red Room, a 7.1 digital audio/visual mixing suite based at The Magic Shop in New York City. Mazer is excited to be part of the Magic Shop and adds, “I’ve admired Steve Rosenthal for many years and greatly enjoy his recordings. The Red Room is a custom-built room with amazing acoustics. It is a pleasure working there.” The Red Room has a 7.1 monitoring system and is being used to mix stereo and surround music, TV shows, commercials and film. The room is outfitted with Pro Tools HD, Logic 8, NHT 7.1 monitors, Sony 27” and 46” displays, ATC nearfield monitors, Universal Audio 2192 converters, an extensive plug-in library, a UA 2-610 tube preamp, and a UA 2-1176.
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| Producer Paul Epworth in his home studio |
Universal Audio Gear "A Revelation" for Paul Epworth on UK Chart Phenomenon Sam Sparro Album
Epworth has produced some exceptionally successful albums for the great and the good of the British art-rock scene. Included in his roll of honor are the likes of Bloc Party, The Futureheads, The Rakes, Maximo Park and Babyshambles. More recently Epworth has been applying his talent for production to different genres. And Sam Sparro looks set to be another of Epworth's success stories.
Much of this output has come out of his small studio in the Paddington area of London. There's not a vast array of gear there. The "live room" comprises the ubiquitous drum kit in the corner, a couple of guitars propped unceremoniously against the wall, guitar amp, a couple of synths, and a Røde Classic II mic on its stand. The "control room" consists of an Apple MacBook hooked up to a fully loaded Universal Audio UAD Xpander, Yamaha NS-10M and Quested monitors, and a small stack of rack units that includes a Universal Audio 6176 channel strip. "Nearly everything I do at the moment starts in this room," says Epworth.
"The UAD Xpander is a revelation," says Paul. "The quality of the UAD plug-ins means I can get professional-sounding mixes from my laptop. I just wish you could chain these things together–I'd buy another four straightaway. I think it's amazing. I use the RE-201 Space Echo on every single session, without fail. As far as the SPL Transient Designer plug-in goes, my jaw dropped when I got that. The Xpander allows me to give things character. It sounds like I've put the signal through a piece of outboard gear, so things don't sound static and digital."
Paul has just been working on Sam Sparro's self-titled debut album. "Sam produced the single 'Black and Gold' himself," says Paul. "But the UAD Xpander's been used on all the tracks I've worked on. You'll hear the Xpander all over the stuff I've done–all over it," explains Epworth with his usual candor.
"Oh, yeah. I use this gear on everything," says Epworth, who seems to prefer a consistent and quantifiable signal path to get the sound down. "Obviously I know the history of UA and Bill Putnam. The 1176 is such a standard piece of kit, so I checked out the UA 6176 and I thought UA mic amp, UA compressor, one unit–boom–sounds amazing. I got the 6176 about nine months ago, and I use it on everything. It does a particular job for me, and the Røde mic's always plugged in to it."
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| Engineer/Producer Wolsey White and Richard Archer with Hard-Fi’s array of Universal Audio gear |
Universal Audio Works for Hard-Fi at Cherry Lips Studio
It's difficult to believe that the unglamorous surroundings of Staines in West London could spawn anything of great note. But appearances are sometimes deceptive, and five years ago the band Hard-Fi emerged from these very streets to make a distinctive mark on the music landscape with their laments of middle-class suburban boredom. The new version 2.0 Cherry Lips Studio has expanded to include a live room, gear storage, kitchen and control room. The single rack contains a Universal Audio 6176 channel strip and 2-1176 limiting amplifier. On top of the rack lie two UA Solo-610 preamps.
“The Universal Audio 6176 is so easy to use,” says Hard-Fi frontman Richard Archer of the channel strip that combines a 610 preamp with an 1176 compressor. “You can just plug in and it sounds great. Almost everything goes through it, vocals, drums--you can even plug in a guitar and get a good sound without an amp.”
This same ethos carries over to software, hence their studio Logic rig is equipped with a Universal Audio UAD-1 card with a full complement of plug-ins. “We use the Pultec EQ plug-in on just about everything,” says engineer/producer Wolsey White. “When mixing, it's just a case of deciding when I drop it in.” Some of the other UAD plug-ins are becoming favorites of Hard-Fi, too. The Roland RE-201, for example, specifically suits their sound. “You can clock it, so you don't have to spend time finding the right time setting, not to mention the fact that you don't have to pull the back off it when it goes wrong!” says White.
"The UAD-1 card is amazing. I have two, and I'm definitely getting another one. You can't have too many.”--Jon-John Robinson
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| Jon-John Robinson in the studio |
R&B Engineer Jonathan (Jon-John) Rocks with the UAD-1
"I first started using the UAD-1 card roughly around 2002. I bought it at the suggestion of a good friend of mine, and when I opened and used the 1176, I couldn't believe my ears. Having intimate knowledge of the 1176 and how it worked, I was amazed at the mind-boggling fact that a plug-in sounded this good. I also compared it to an actual 1176 hardware piece and you virtually can't tell the difference.
“I love the characteristics of these plug-ins, you can just open up a plug-in and not touch it, and it has the coloring characteristics of the actual hardware. I usually use the Pultec plug-in, in forced live mode in Logic Pro 8, to record my vocals. It's like having an actual Pultec in the studio. I also like to use it on my kicks and snares to warm them up and make them hit harder.
"I can't put it any other way: the UAD-1 card is amazing. I have two, and I'm definitely getting another one. You can't have too many."
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| UA on the cover | UA’s Senior Product Manager Ichi Nagai at AES Amsterdam |
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DCS Remote Pre Nominated for TEC Award - Don’t forget to vote.
The Universal Audio DCS Remote Preamp has been nominated for a 2008 Technical Excellence & Creativity Award in the category of Outstanding Technical Achievement, Mic Preamplifier Technology. Also nominated is 2-LA-2 for Signal Processing Technology Hardware, and SPL Transient Designer Plug-in for Signal Processing Technology/Software.Universal Audio products have received over half a dozen nominations in the past 10 years and has won TEC awards for the 6176 Channel Strip, 2-1176 Stereo Limiting Amplifier and the Neve Classic Console Plug-in bundle.
UA Distributes Internal Mixing Book from Pro Workshops
The Pro Workshops DVD series available on UA’s online store has been a great success; we’ve sold a lot of them and many people have improved their mixing and mastering chops after watching them. Now, we are proud to introduce the Pro Workshops Internal Mixing book, a 296-page book and DVD set, available now from our online store for $74.99. It is the perfect companion to the Internal Mixing DVDs, as well as a stand-alone teaching tool. This book is written by Friedemann Tischmeyer, the creator of the Pro Workshops series of DVDs. For more info on the book see this month’s Plug In Power
Apple Settles Class-Action Suits Over iPod Batteries
Apple has agreed to settle a pair of class-action lawsuits in Canada alleging it misled customers about the staying power of their iPods, the latest courtroom truce over the dwindling battery life of early generations of the device. According to a court document, the Cupertino-based company is offering credits from its online store of about $44.75 to people who live in Canada and bought certain iPods there on or before June 24, 2004.
USA Today
Court Sets Formula for Internet Music Royalties
A federal court established a formula for determining the Internet royalties owed to thousands of music composers, writers and publishers by three major online services--Yahoo, AOL and RealNetworks. The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers hailed the decision, estimating the guidelines could yield as much as $100 million in payments covering a seven-year period ending in 2009.
USA Today
Digital Rights Management Coming Back, RIAA Predicts
News of DRM's death has been greatly exaggerated, according to an executive with the Recording Industry Association of America. At a time when the top recording companies appear to be phasing out digital rights management (DRM), the RIAA is predicting that the highly controversial software will make a comeback.
CNET
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Your 1-click guide to the summer US music festivals - grab a ticket while you can!
Monterey Music Summit - May 30, 31, June 1 2008 - Laguna Seca, CA
Bonaroo - June 12-15 2008 - Manchester, TN
High Sierra - July 3-6 2008 - Quincy, CA
Rothbury - July 3-6 2008 - Rothbury, MI
Rocklahoma - July 10-13 2008 - Pryor, OK
Mile High - July 19-20 2008 - Denver, CO
Pemberton - July 25-28 2008 BC, Canada
Lollapalooza - August 1-3 2008 - Chicago, IL
All Points West - August 8 -10 2008, State Park, NJ
Virgin Mobile - August 9-10 2008 - Baltimore, MD
Outside Lands - August 22-24 2008 - San Francisco, CA
Bumbershoot - August 30, Sept 1 2008 - Seattle, WA
Monolith - September 13 & 14 - Red Rocks, CO
Monterey Jazz - September 19-21 2008 - Monterey, CA
Treasure Island - September 20-21 - San Francisco, CA
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