Volume 3, Number 3, May 2005
[UA Universe] [Ask the Doctors] [Digital Minds] [Analog Obsession]
[Support Report] [The Channel] [Plug-In Power] [Analog Ears] [Featured Promotion]
[Graphic-Rich WebZine]
[Back Issues] [UA Home]
- Featured Employee: Tom Freeman
- Upcoming Events ...
- Artist • Engineer • Producer Gossip ...
- Tech Talk ...
- News and Schmooze ...
- Word on the Street ...
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Tom Freeman, PC Support Specialist
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It just so happens Tom Freeman, Universal Audio's PC tech support specialist for the UAD-1, just rolled over one year on the old UA odometer. Tom's commitment to the best customer service in the audio business has made him a huge asset to our marketing team, and a legend among UAD-1 users. In preparing for his interview, I ran across his original job application, and it speaks for itself.
Name: Tom Freeman.
Job applied for: PC Tech Support Specialist.
“My biggest recent work success was successfully campaigning to have Pizza Friday re-instated the week after Chinese Food Friday. This was a controversial move, but I did not flinch in the face of immense criticism.”
What you feel you have to contribute to Universal Audio: Well, since the UAD-1 is so stable, I'll pretty much just walk around and try to look busy. I could call customers directly, hoping to discover a problem, but unfortunately at my last position I was often disappointed, as the customer would usually just hang up on me. My biggest recent work success was successfully campaigning to have Pizza Friday re-instated the week after Chinese Food Friday. This was a controversial move, but I did not flinch in the face of immense criticism.
Main Instrument: Bass guitar, rap backup vocals.
Hobbies: Basketball, cooking, watching sports, video games, working on music, reading self-improvement books written by notable failures, long walks on the beach with my wireless laptop, perusing various user forums, my steady involvement with the Motherboard of the Month club, generating bad plug-in ideas, asking stupid questions, Internet kung-fu, freestyle interpretive hip-hop dancing, snake taming, joining unpopular political movements, transcendental reality television viewing, etc.
Favorite Food: Gnocchi.
Favorite Movie: Bubba Ho-Tep, or any other movie involving Elvis and zombies.
Favorite Sports Team: The Warriors, baby!
Favorite Restaurant: Toss up between Chez Panisse and Taco Barn.
Favorite Software: UAD-1 software and, of course, Windows XP, the finest OS ever made!
If I don't take the job working at UA, I will be: Here's a hint: "Please pull up to the second window, sir..."
One thing about UA I did not know: The stringent policy against showing up to work nude. (I thought this was the land of the free!) [The executive editor, President Matt Ward wishes it to be known that public nudity is legal in Santa Cruz, and no such policy against nudity at Universal Audio exists.-Ed]
In the future I see myself: Well, eventually dead, but before that I hope to finish my investigation of the JFK assassination. Apparently, my latest information points to the fact that this assassination happened somewhere in Texas, before I was born, I hope to corroborate this info with eyewitness testimony at some time in the future.
The information provided in this application is for your private use, and can not be duplicated or otherwise distributed without the author's express permission.
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Tom's Studio
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"My music studio has constantly been changing until recently, and I think I finally have a setup that I will be happy with for quite some time. I used to have a large number of outboard devices and keyboards, and while they were all useful, there would be so much upkeep and patching and routing, I would rarely get much done. Now, if you take a look at the picture I have included of my studio, the whole studio revolves around a computer. I find now that all I have to do is power up the system and I am ready to make music, and I get much more done now.
"I have computer system that is based on the ASUS P4P800 motherboard, running an Intel 3.0G processor. I have four UAD-1 cards installed, and use a MOTU 896 for my audio interface.
"I have three hard drives, and 80Gb SATA system drives, and two 250Gb IDE audio and sample drives. Then I have a couple removable USB and FireWire drives for backup of my programs and projects. I have a Mackie Control automation surface, an M-Audio little USB keyboard, a JDI direct box for my bass, and my pride and joy, of course, the Universal Audio 2192 Master Audio Interface.
"I have included a link to a couple tracks I am busy producing right now, I hope you enjoy them."
Track 1
Track 2
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Upcoming Events ...
Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics, Summer Lectures 2005
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Workshops will be held at: CCRMA, 660 Lomita Court, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305. To register, or for more information, visit CCRMA's Website or phone 650-723-4971 x320
UA to Be Title Sponsor at 2005 Tape Op Conference
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Universal Audio will be a title sponsor of the fourth annual Tape Op conference to be held June 10-12 in New Orleans.
There will be an exhibitor area, panels, workshops, a concert series, and of course a great chance to "hang" with many of the leading lights in the industry-- manufacturers, designers, producers and engineers. If you want to take your audio knowledge, recording skills or industry networking up a notch, the Tape Op conference is a fantastic way to do it in an informal, friendly environment.
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Artist • Engineer • Producer Gossip ...
Not too much gossip here since the UA team was at out the huge MusikMesse in Frankfurt, Germany, so instead a couple of photo highlights from Messe.
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Will Shanks collecting team UA's third prize in the Pro Sound News Music Trivia Quiz. Presenting is PSN Editor and compere Dave Robinsion.
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Two lucky winners at the UAD-1 giveaway drawing, at our booth in Hall 8 at MusikMesse with German Distributor S.E.A.
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Tech Talk ...
UA Audio Demo's, Videos and Audio-Enhancing the Webzine!
For some time now, the Tips and Demos section of our Webzine has said, "Coming soon," and some visitors were wondering (quite out loud) when we might actually provide the tips and demos. As of this writing, the Tips and Demos section is being built, and we think it is worth the wait.
Because people who are curious about the UAD-1 can't download a demo plug-in, they either have to go to a local dealer for a demo, or to a friend's studio that has a UAD-1 or two. But now, each UAD-1 plug-in section on the Website has three (or more) audio examples, and each example appears in unprocessed and processed form so you can compare the two. Each audio sample is available as downloadable and streamable 192k MP3 and 44.1k/16-bit .wav files. A screenshot of each plug-in is included as well, so you can see how the parameters have been set. If you own a UAD-1, a downloadable preset file is included so you can try it on your own material.
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Vinnie Colaiuta
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The analog products on UA's Website are now linked with movies that illustrate the main features of these products, as well as some behind-the-scenes interviews and in-depth discussion on design and manufacturing. Audio samples for each product will follow throughout the year, and we will continue to populate the analog and digital tips and demos sections with audio and video samples as more products become available.
Here is a brief schedule of the audio and video samples coming to the Website. If you have any ideas for audio examples you would like to see, write to demos@uaudio.com.
| June | July | August | September | October | November |
| 8110/4110, 2108, Boss CE-1 |
LA3A, LA2A | 6176, LA-610, Roland Dimension D | 2-610, M610 | To be determined. (We can't tell you everything!) | 1176, 2-1176, RE-201 |
News & Schmooze ...
UA is rapidly expanding and hiring! We have a number of new positions at our HQ in California in engineering, manufacturing and marketing. If you have a passion for audio excellence and UA gear, and think you have what it takes, we want to hear from you!
Check out the detailed job descriptions on our Website.
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Word On The Street ...
Pro Sound News Europe's April issue includes a big industry write-up on DSP and plug-ins by Simon Trask. Universal Audio's Mike Barnes provided extensive input and commentary for the article.
Tape Op magazine will review the LA-610 in its May issue, after some extensive recording sessions.
Ryan West will review the UAD-1 for the next edition of the excellent hip-hop/lifestyle Scratch magazine. If you are into beats, turntablism and/or hip-hop production you need to read this magazine!
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