AES Meeting in San Francisco

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Exactly. She told me the same thing. I'm sure she collects plenty of attention. She seemed interested by all the new mics at the show too, since we chatted about sound for TV and recording and shotgun mics. Per didn't seem to mind that my eyes were glued on her and not on the display case.
 
[quote author="SSLtech"]Count on me being there. Count also on beginning some serious research into beer quality on the area. I'll need some orientation in terms of finding decent Guinness... fancy joining me?[/quote]

We should ask Soundguy to guide us. He's in the East Village and probably knows a thing or two about which bars are good. As for me, I haven't been in a bar since the smoking ban! :?

Also, you can direct me to Mrs. Stahls or wherever else you think I need to visit...

That's rather a long way from the convention--about an hour on the subway--but there is Yonah Schimmel's downtown, which is just as renowned. We can do eggcream research at Gem Spa on 2nd avenue. And let's not forget pizza: Lombardi's, John's and Patsy's are all in Manhattan, as well as some other places that are rumored to be good :grin:
 
I am taking the train up tomorrow.
Probably be there around 12.
Thats funny, the swedish girl. I was just kidding in my first post about Per springing for a Booth Bimbo, and low and behold!
Do they allow digi cameras in there?
Does your pass have a picture on it?
:razz:
 
Digi cameras - no problem. They're all over, and required by law if you're an engineer from Japan.

Need a pass? I have 2 free passes sitting here. PM your cell number or something and I can hook you up at the show or whatever.
 
[quote author="tommypiper"]A couple hours ago I was standing next to Rupert Neve. [/quote]

I workeed at Amek and spent half a day with him. Debating high sample frequencies, asking him about designs, etc. Very friendly, approachable guy. Introduce yourself, he's very friendly and has a wonderful accent to boot.

I had to chuckle as I heard guys exclaim, "that sounds great, what a difference" listening on the floor to speakers, headphones, mics, etc.

I A/Bed the fet MXLs with the tube V69 and that one sounds amazing! I'm ordering one as soon as I get back.

If anyone is around the TASCAM booth come say hello to Jeff Laity. I'll talk your ear off about our new $1200 DSD recorder if you want, or the great roast beef at the back of the hall if you'd rather.
 
"The girl minding the Lundahl booth last year was stunning, and very nice too."
I thought I was the only one!!! I was getting ready to buy transformers for just about every thing in my studio just to hang out at that booth a little more.
 
I met Kevin in the Lundahl booth. Told him and Mr. Lundahl that I was planning to build a pair of Pultec-ish EQ's next year, and I would like to take the opportunity to try Lundahl trafos in them. Kevin was nice, Lundahl was pretty cold and standoffish. I was less than impressed.

Will definitely go to NYC AES next year - it's my bi-yearly opportunity to take a vacation to the greatest city in the world... well, one of them, anyway.
 
[quote author="underthebigtree"]Will definitely go to NYC AES next year - it's my bi-yearly opportunity to take a vacation to the greatest city in the world... well, one of them, anyway.[/quote]You know, I'm thinking about making a great big effort to head up there myself.
 
Per Lundahl in the middle, Kevin C and some other freak that snuck into the show.
Talked to Per for about an hour on transformer design and production! He is very knowegable of course, and took his time to answer all my questions in a complete manner. Very good English.

lundahl_2.jpg


Got to talk with DW Fearn also, sorry for the out of focus. DW has a new compressor out that uses pulse width modulation and sounds very transparent. I also saw a new company's tube compressor that uses 12SN7's, not a remote tube, so that could be exciting. Don't know how they do it. Using the 12 volt versions of 6 volt tubes means cheaper tubes, as everybody has already snagged all the 6 volt versions. Smart parts sourcing.

dw_1.jpg


I have never seen so many microphones in my life. All kinds of new ones from new companies coming out. Also talked to John Hardy for a while. Nice dude also. Told me the story behind the Jensen/Reichenbach feud.
Joe Meek even has a mic out.

mic_2.jpg


some others

mic_5.jpg

mic_7.jpg
 
T'was me taking that great snap of CJ and Per and Kevin. We'll all meet up again tomorrow. Synthetic, funny you mention the DSD recorder and RN. The first time I bumped into him was 5 years ago in a DSD demo, and he was arguing for a better format than the CD format with someone afterwards. Ran into him again today but didn't get a chance to chat. I'll definitely check out that TASCAM DSD recorder. I think DSD sounds wonderful and look forward for recorders to becoming affordable. Had a chat about that with the Philips DSD SA-CD rep from Holland. They now have a DSD plug-in for ProTools to allow you to mix to DSD for SACD, costing 1k. For final mastering you have to pay another 4k for software or go through a SACD replicator. He said in Europe and Asia SACD is going very well and many leading studios in the States are now putting out SACD titles at a steady pace.

I also chatted with Geoff Tanner at length about his new mixer. Yes, mixer. It's an active 8 channel box that can be combined up to 24 or more. It's meant, among other things, to be used as an analog mixing alternative with DAWs. You can hook up a panel of faders, and his idea is you can take the panel of faders across the room if you want, while the mixer sits in the rack. The mixer itself has knobs for gain, pan, Aux send, headphones, etc the gain knobs are deactived when you plug in the faders. It's very flexible. No EQ, as he imagines using your outboard EQ and external mic pres hooked up with the mixer, or using the onboard DAW EQ. He sees it as the ideal interface between DAW and analog FX and pres and the rest of your studio. It's all done in Neve styling, balanced, w/output transformers. He's already got a waiting list, shipping shortly. Maybe it's on his Aurora Audio website.

Microphone alley continues to impress. Many mics. Yes, I've heard the V69 is great value. Had nice chat with the owner of ADK mics, nice guy, he has an API type pre now that has optional Lundahl transformer for just over 1k. I started listening to the ubiquitous headphones today. Tried Ultrasone headphones, couldn't say they were great. Tried the Wunder Audio Neve-like EQ, compared to a 1073 you can A/B it with in the same rack. They obviosly expect you to pick out the Wunder as the winner. It was fine, nice, but I preferred the Neve, sorry. Not the best environment for auditioning. He now has great looking big, old-style tube mics for sale too, in the 4k price range. The exhibitor directory lists, get this, over 50 microphone manufactures on the floor.

I spent too long in a few private Logic classes put on by Apple. Some new features are impressive. One is the ability to learn an EQ character from one track, or mix, and paste it to another. Basically copy and paste EQ signature. This allows you to match different takes made with different mics, on different days, and get them to work together. Or create the EQ signature of someone else's mix onto your mix. Also some impressive pitch correction and vocal tuning and harmonizing options. The third thing I liked was the ability to turn any audio file into an Apple loop, which Logic can now speed up and slow down at any time at any tempo you wish. Basically allowing you to control audio files at varying speeds within the file, drawing in the tempo changes like you would volume or panning. That's cool. Right now it's limited to like 16 bar length files because it's all done in RAM, but one of the German Logic authors told me he cannot comment on future products, wink wink, meaning we may see this expanded in future to full length files on hard disk. When I told him I'd interpret his comments to mean we may see that feature expanded in future he smiled and said, "I didn't say that!" Even at 16 bar lengths it's amazing corrective and creative flexibility. I'm not much of a DAW user, but interesting. Logic is clean and streamlined.

At one point during a floor demo of Logic's new guitar amp modeler, Paul Lehrman from Mix turned in disgust and walked away saying, "who needs a real musician and a real instrument anymore?" This seems to sum up the two directions everything is heading.

There seem to be two trends at the show. Everything is boiling down to two camps of products. The virtual and computer based on one hand, and the analog, old-school group on the other, of mics, analog pres and boxes, and re-issues like the new/old API. On the virtual side we have the new Digi digital mixer and many in-the-computer virtual consoles and DAWs and you name it. On the analog, old-school group you have all the new mics and rack boxes of every flavor. The AES publication today said this was nearly a record show, and only a couple manufactures short of the largest AES show ever. It's more compact than previous SF AES, all in one side of Moscone instead of both sides as in '99. This is making it cozier, closer, everyone is bumping into eachother and the atmosphere is very good. :guinness:
 
> I also saw a new company's tube compressor that uses 12SN7's, not a remote tube, so that could be exciting. Don't know how they do it.

6SN7/12SN7 is very similar to (not same-as) 12AU7. Seems to me I've seen a 12AU7-based limiter plans and prototype floating around. Ought to work fine.
 
[quote author="PRR"] Seems to me I've seen a 12AU7-based limiter plans and prototype floating around. [/quote]
:green: :green: :green:
lol
made me laugh once again
you must be feeling more and more comfy around here cos this seems to happening more often
 
> ade me laugh once again

The quiet humor isn't new. Maybe you are getting better drugs.
 
It was good to meet all of you guys who came by the booth at AES! It was a good show with some interesting stuff (non-transformer, too). And, yeah, Eva is a real sound tech in the NY TV scene as well as being a very fine person in all regards. Would that there were more like her in the business!!!
 
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