Corner Music is Nashville's first-call music store.
On the heels of Summer NAMM, we figured it was a good time to take a look at what’s new in studio gear. In keeping with Disc Makers opening a new Nashville location, we checked in with our resident expert Ray Arsenault of Nashville’s famed Corner Music to get his inside perspective.
Ray keeps it local with a review of a new line of mics designed in Nashville, gives insight on some hardware and software signal processing tools, and provides some tips on monitors and headphones at various price points that offer outstanding performance.
Hearing is believing: ADAM and Yorkville monitors
“After 31 years in the business, whenever we get in a new piece of recording gear to test out, we’re pretty much able to guess what the price will be on it,” says Ray. “But when we demoed the Yorkville YSM-2P powered monitors, everybody in the store was wrong! I thought we were listening to a pair of monitors that would retail for $600-700 a pair. At $300 a pair, I’d say these are the best sounding monitors in the lower price range, no doubt about it.”
The YSM-2P’s feature a 5.25” woofer and a 1” dome tweeter powered by a 46-watt biamplifier. Speaker design includes shielding so that you can use them near video or computer monitors. Input is via XLR or ¼-inch connector and a 10- dB input trim pot is found on the back of the cabinet. “We’ve sold more than 80 pairs of them in the last 13 months, and our customers have been very happy with the product,” Ray added.
“Another monitor system we’ve been doing well with is the ADAM line. They feature ribbon tweeters and if you haven’t tried using them, it will open up a whole new world you’ve never heard. Although we have handled ADAM monitors for some time, they are growing in popularity as more and more people hear them. A while back, you’d have to start off explaining why they were different than traditional monitors, but now word has gotten out about the high performance these monitors offer. The A-7, which is their entry level powered system, goes for about $1,000 a pair. They provide a real sense of where the instruments are in the mixing soundstage.”
(L) The Yorkville YSM-2Ps offer outstanding value for small studio monitors. (R) ADAM's A-7, with its ribbon tweeter,
packs amazing performance into a small package.
One of the secrets of the German-made ADAM line is the Accelerated Ribbon Technology (A.R.T) tweeter, which uses the same design as the tweeters found in ADAM’s high-end systems costing many times more. Simply put, rather than using transducers which push a column of air in only one direction – out toward the listener – the ADAM tweeter squeezes air in and out four times faster than the ribbon itself is moving. The result is outstanding clarity and accurate reproduction of transients. The system features balanced XLR and unbalanced RCA inputs, along with a front panel level trim and rear panel tweeter level adjustment and two shelving filters for high and low frequency fine tuning.
“The A-7s really are a case where you have to hear them to believe them,” says Ray. “You can hear everything that’s going on in and behind your recording with them.”
Ray also praised the Ultrasone Pro Line headphones as offering outstanding performance. “They are really hot with our customers who want accuracy. They present the audio information in a different dimension. Instead of the “back of the head” sound field that most headphones deliver, the Pro Lines give you a sound that’s more out front, much more like a good set of speakers sitting in the room.” The Ultrasone Pro Line models start at $239 and go up to $399 per pair.
Innovators to the fore: Equation Audio
(L-R) Equation Audio's DS-V7 has gained rapid acceptance as a versatile mic for stage and studio use. Equation's DS-V9 is an affordable condenser mic offering an outstanding price/performance ratio. The large diphragm F.30.v (valve) mic will feature Cameron Audio Design elements in a unique housing.
“Equation Audio is a relatively new company located near us that was founded by Bruce Forbes and some of the guys who were the R&D gurus at CAD microphones. These people were part of the engineering team that developed the great mics CAD brought out in the early 1990s. They decided to start their own company and if their first products are any indication of the future, they are going to be doing very well. Their first two mics, the DS-V7 and DS-V9 are already out on tour nationally with the Moody Blues, Dolly Parton, and Poison,” according to Ray. “There’s more to a good microphone than just the specs, you have to have a very musical ear to design a mic that will perform well, and Bruce’s engineers have that.”
The DS-V7 is a super cardioid dynamic featuring a neodymium element, and 40 Hz to 17kHz frequency response capable of handling 140 dB SPL. The DS-V9 is an electret condenser design, equally at home in the studio or on stage.
“They are built very well and we are recommending the DS-V7 to many of our customers,” mentions Ray. “The Moody Blues are on tour using Equation mics on vocals, drums, and guitars. Equation also has three new mics in the pipeline that I’m excited about, called the “F-Series.” They are the Super condenser F.20; the F.30v tube model; and a ribbon mic, the F.40r. Equation has designed these mics with innovations developed by Fred Cameron, who lived and worked in Nashville, and was one of the world’s foremost mic technicians. Although Fred recently passed away, his son Philip is continuing to work with Equation incorporating many of his concepts. Equation Audio also makes a range of very nice headphones (dubbed Ear Tools) at various price points which are rapidly becoming our biggest selling headphones.
Going digital
The DreamVerb allows the user to quickly shape and fine tune their reverb sound.
Switching gears to digital recording hardware and software, Ray sang the praises of the Universal Audio line, especially the UAD-1 digital interface card. “Universal seems to be one of the most requested products by our customers. The UAD-1 combines a high performance DSP card with various combinations of Powered Plug-ins such as the Universal LA-2A limiter, Pultec EQP-1A equalizer, Neve 88RS channel strip, and the BOSS CE-1 chorus. The UAD-1 runs on its own DSP so it doesn’t bog down your CPU, resulting in much better overall performance.”
The Project PAK entry-level UAD-1 package retails for $399 and includes the 1176SE limiter, Pultec EQ, RealVerb Pro, CS-1 Channel Strip suite, and the Nigel Guitar suite. Similar to AmpFarm, Nigel includes loads of processing features including modulation, delay, amp and cabinet modeling, and much more. At the other end of the spectrum, the Extreme PAK retails for $1999 and provides a whopping 32 Powered Plug ins including such esoteric units as the Helios 69 passive equalizer (made famous for its use on classic Hendrix and Led Zeppelin recordings), Neve 1073 and 1081 EQs, and the legendary Fairchild 670 compressor. (Editor’s note: On a recent recording project at Fantasy Studios, I marveled at how well the Fairchild 670 plug-in provided amazing warmth and transparent compression on either exposed individual tracks such as a sax solo or on an entire stereo mix, without sounding squashed or unnatural.)
The classic Fairchild 670 limiter is one of the rarest pieces of vintage gear, but now can be found in a software version.
Last but certainly not least, Ray mentioned that Corner Music had recently begun carrying products by Empirical Labs, best known for their innovative Distressor. “Founder Dave Derr was an audio engineer working at Eventide as part of the design team in the days when they designed the H3000 and 3500 processing units. Basically, if you want your digital audio to sound right, the Empirical boxes take the digital edge out and result in a more pleasing sound. I guess you might say that Dave’s products just sound more musical than a lot of other products that are out there.”
The EL-8 Distressor is a digitally-controlled automatic gain control device that uses a variety of circuits to provide a host of sound options. These include a 200:1 compression ratio activated by engaging a “Nuke” button! It can be used as a compressor/limiter or simply as a coloration tool without any gain control, resulting in a great deal of flexibility.
(Top - Bottom) The Distressor gives digital recordings a more musical sound while providing automatic gain control. Among its tricks, the Fatso Jr. offers both transformer and tape emulation capabilities. Lil Freq combines all the necessary equalizer functions in one flexible unit.
Along with the Distressor, Empirical also markets the EL-7 Fatso Jr., which provides harmonic generation and soft clipping, high frequency saturation, transformer and tape emulation, and classic knee compression (and a switch labeled “Spank”!). The Lil Freq is an all-in-one equalizer package that includes a high pass filter, high and low shelving, parametric EQ, and dynamic EQ for applications such as de-essing.
Ray wrapped up our conversation by saying that business has been brisk and made up of a mix of musicians adding their first home studio and established recording customers adding to their arsenal of tools and toys. “There’s no end in sight to the new products we’ve been seeing and hearing lately which bodes well for the studios we serve.”
