Anyone else go to AES?

[Robert D]

Just wondering if anyone else made it to AES this year in San Francisco? It was fabulous, and for those who have never been, if you get the chance sometime, it's big fun. Having guys like Rupert Neve, George Massnenburg, Toft, Fern, etc. sitting in front of you having a discussion on the subject you love is amazing, and just the vibe of so many people who share your interest coming from around the world to meet is very exciting.

A couple of takaways for me;

When asked why his 1073 and other designs of the time are so sought after today, and why they sound so good, Repurt responded that he really hadn't set out to make them sound great, his primary design goal was reliability. Since they would be used in broadcast consoles, and it was a high crime to have a failure there, he designed in fear of failures.

Massenburg got a huge round of applause for trashing Behringer, and was quite a colorful guy. He wasn't fond of SSL either. He revealed that when he invented the parametric EQ, it was really by circumstance of available components, and that he did a lot of bad mixing with parametrics before he ever got a handle on them.

The guys at FXpansion were having fun showing off BFD, and their prowess with a Zen Drum. BFD is too cool!

Roger Nichols was out on the floor showing off his plugins, which in a very crowded market seemed pretty impressive. First time I've heard of them. Particularly interesting was his Dynamizer, which breaks singleband compression into 4 dynamic bands, not by frequency, but by level. Have a look here. http://www.rogernicholsdigital.com/dynam-izer.htm

Speaking of Neve, I got a chance to listen to the new Neve plugins for UAD, very nice.

Red microphones, owned by the same company as Blue microphones, had the only mic demo that knocked my socks off. Originally formed to supply vintage microphone parts, they're now manufacturing a great modular mic system, with an array of capsules designed to emulate the greats. I went to see the LDC Lolipop capsule that they make for the MK-012. What knocked my socks off was their new new Type A Tube mic with an R7 capsule. The AES floor is a damn poor place to audition mics, and listening to mics at the Neuman booth was a big yawn, but that Red Type A through a Focusrite Red pre (what else for a Red mic) had a sound so big that even on that noisy floor, it just dropped my jaw!

I'll undoubtably think of lots of other things I forgot to mention, but back to work for me.

 

[bennychico11]

Good post, thanks.

He revealed that when he invented the parametric EQ, it was really by circumstance of available components, and that he did a lot of bad mixing with parametrics before he ever got a handle on them.

I think Mr. Neve said this at one time as well...although it may have been Mr. Massenburg and I'm just going crazy.
But one of them said, "I did what I could with what I had at the time." Pretty much saying that even though his original creations back in the day are still highly sought after and are considered the staple sound that everyone wants, he thinks that he's done so much better since then. That he has much more access to better components and tools than he did before.
Which makes a lot of sense...because why would Neve/Massenburg actually become worse at inventing gear? They've probably learned a lot since their early days.

Roger Nichols was out on the floor showing off his plugins, which in a very crowded market seemed pretty impressive. First time I've heard of them. Particularly interesting was his Dynamizer, which breaks singleband compression into 4 dynamic bands, not by frequency, but by level. Have a look here. http://www.rogernicholsdigital.com/dynam-izer.htm

They're actually not his creation. He bought them from Elemental Audio and renamed them. And also hiked up the price!
They're been around for quite some time...it's weird that they're showing them off because I don't think anything has changed except the skins and the names. I still have the original ones and they look the exact same.
The DYNAM-IZER (originally called Neodynium) is pretty interesting but hard to learn. You have to do a lot of trial and error when you first get it since it's pretty different than any standard compressor.

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

it's weird that they're showing them off because I don't think anything has changed except the skins and the names. I still have the original ones and they look the exact same.
The DYNAM-IZER (originally called Neodynium) is pretty interesting but hard to learn. You have to do a lot of trial and error when you first get it since it's pretty different than any standard compressor.

If I doubled and more the prices of existing software, and has a who-knows-how-many-million-dollar loan to pay off, I'd be out there on the front lines selling my ass off too .

Yeah, I have the original EA versions too. It's very nice software, actually. Nichols can probably get away with the inflated prices by selling it as botique software with his name on it.

I agree that Neodynium/Dynam-izer is a great plug, but has a fairly high learning curve and (if one knows how to mix correctly to begin with) limited use in it's full glory. But even if one just uses it as a basic upward or up/down compressor, it's very nice.

The real ace of the series, though, IMHO is the Eqium plug (now called the Nichols' Uniqel-izer). This is one of the real workhorse EQ plugs in my kit; not a mix goes by (and barely a track) that I don't use it to some degree.

G.

P.S. This may be considered herasy by many of you guys and gals, but I gotta ask: Am I the only one starting to get tired of Massenberg making big bucks telling us all stuff that we already know? I mean, seriously; I'm not sure I remember the last time I read a Massenberg nugget that actually contained any actually useful information above and beyond what we normally cover dialy in this forum. Even his "Massenburg Masterclass" columns in the Sweetwater flyers are usually nothing more than Engineering 099-101 stuff with a big name attached to it.

RobertD: I have not actually met him in person. Does he actually look just like Eric Clapton or is that just an effect in the photos I've seen?

 

[FALKEN]

did you see the new neve console???????????

it was supposed to be there but I haven't heard a thing about it.

AFA George Massenburg.......didn't the guy invent parametric eq when he was like 19???? doesn't that count for something???

 

[Robert D]

I'm afraid I didn't pay mutch attention to the Neve console, since it has about as much chance of ending up in my studio as U2. There was so much to take in that I passed up a lot of stuff like that in favour of things I can actually consider owning. Besides, they probably hate it when people drool on the Neve.
Of course Massenburg and his contributions count for something.

Yeah, I didn't think Roger wrote those plugs, though I didn't know they were just a re-brand of a previously released product line. I'll have to take a second look at the Uniquel-izer. It does look quite the kit for surgical EQ.