ALVA offer a collection of durable audio products built to the highest standards. Forming a perfect complement to the products from our partners from RME, there's an extensive selection of professional cables and a range of other items designed to make studio or on-stage life easier.
Appsys ProAudio is a Swiss design and manufacture company dedicated to creating digital solutions for broadcast, post-production, live and recording studios.
Calrec Audio supplies audio broadcast mixing consoles which are relied on by the world's most successful broadcasters.
Originally formed as a microphone manufacturer in 1964, Calrec celebrated 50 years as audio specialists in 2014.
The company's reputation for build quality, reliability and audio performance has made it an industry benchmark across the world.
DirectOut GmbH specialises in developing essential pro audio connectivity, networking and bridging solutions for broadcast, studio, live and installed sound applications.
The product range offers solutions that build bridges between different audio worlds, with support for MADI, SoundGrid, Dante, RAVENNA and the standards AES67 and SMPTE ST2110-30/31.
Founded in 1977 in Skanderborg, Denmark, Dynaudio has over 40 years of experience in producing cutting-edge loudspeakers.
From the classic BM Series and contemporary LYD Series, to the
high-end Core and M Series ranges of studio monitors, Dynaudio's focus
on transparency and accuracy has made them a household name of the
recording studio and broadcast audio industries.
In the UK, Dynaudio can be found in major studios such as Abbey Road
and Air Studios, as well as the next generation of film and game studios
mixing for surround sound and Dolby Atmos.
As well as the highly respected B4000+ organ module, Ferrofish offers a range of quality ADAT <> MADI <> Analogue converters that can be used for studio, live, post-production and broadcast applications and at a price that will suit any budget.
iConnectivity is a renowned professional audio manufacturer known for creating innovative and versatile products.
Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta Canada, the iConnectivity range includes audio and MIDI interfaces that are perfect for both studio and live sound.
The mioXL MIDI 1U rack unit is a favourite among studio and live sound professionals as a robust MIDI hub, whilst the unique PlayAUDIO1U interface allows for the connection of multiple host computers via USB.
High-end monitor controllers, headphone amplifiers and microphone preamps from Konstanz, Germany.
Founded in 1986, Lake People has been designing and manufacturing top-tier professional recording solutions for over 30 years in the Lake Constance region.
Renowned for their exceptional sound quality and reliability, Lake People products proudly carry the acclaimed "Made in Germany" seal of quality.
Lauten Audio design and manufacture high quality studio microphones with a unique and distinctive character.
Based in Northern California, the company regularly collaborates with industry professionals when creating fresh and original sounding microphones.
RME is a German company founded in 1996 by a small group of professional audio engineers and designers.
From day one, the team have stuck to a strict philosophy of truly innovative design and unparalleled reliability in the field of digital audio.
Handmade pro audio equipment from Madrid, Spain. Combining eco-friendly materials with premium analogue sound, the Tierra Audio range includes Microphones, Preamps, EQs, Compressors and more, and in a variety of different flavours - from clean and precise, to warm, colourful and full of character.
Every component is built to the highest of standards, guaranteeing high-end sonic performance and maximum durability for studio recording, mixing and mastering applications.
A selection of Ex-Demo, B-Stock and Open-Box products from our brands including RME, Ferrofish, Icon and Lauten Audio.
Available at reduced prices from new so grab yourself a bargain!
Synthax Audio UK is a
professional audio distributor supplying the recording studio, live
audio, broadcast, installation, education and scientific application
markets.
Representing a number of established pro audio manufacturers, we keep immediate stock of all key items
from our brands including RME Audio, Calrec Brio and Type R, Ferrofish,
Dynaudio studio monitors, DirectOut, iConnectivity, Appsys ProAudio Multiverter and SRC, TIERRA Audio, Lake People, and
Lauten Audio Microphones.
Comments Off on Synthax TV Hits One Million YouTube Views
We are pleased to announce that we have hit our first million views on our YouTube channel SynthaxTV, and it’s all thanks to you and our loyal following around the world.
Our very first video was uploaded 8 years ago and was a box opening for the then brand new RME Fireface UFX. This rather shaky video featured our very own Rob Masters (Synthax Audio UK Product Manager) who demonstrated the features of the innovative audio interface.
Since then, we’ve produced over a hundred videos with product overviews, interviews, news from shows and of course the all-important tutorials, which we know have been helpful to so many musicians, engineers and producers around the world.
Thanks to the Pros.
We’re particularly grateful to those producers, engineers and techs who took the time out to talk to us about how and why they’re using our products, especially RME. We have interviewed some of the best live professionals in the business including Miller (Coldplay), Tony Newton (Iron Maiden), Kerry Hopwood (George Michael & Depeche Mode) and Tony Smith (Elton John).
There have been many interviews in the studio and broadcast as well. Producers such as Kevin Porée, Marc JB, Myles Clarke, Josh Blair, Marco Perry and Conrad Fletcher have all been kind enough to give up their time to contribute to our ever-growing channel.
The Horse’s Mouth.
Trade shows including NAMM and Musikmesse have also been the backdrop for many of our videos where we have interviewed some of the designers behind the gear allowing you to hear about new products straight from the horse’s mouth.
More recently, this has included Matthias Carstens (RME head of design) on the new Digiface AVB and Dante, Jurgen Kindermann (Ferrofish founder) on the new Ferrofish Pulse 16 DX Dante converter, and Marc Shettke (RME M-32 Pro head developer) at IBC 2018 who told us all about the new RME M-32 Pro MADI and AVB converters.
We already have plans for many new videos, so make sure that you subscribe to SynthaxTV and hit that notifications bell to be notified when we upload new videos.
Comments Off on Classical engineer Oscar Torres discusses RME audio interfaces and microphone preamps
In the rack: RME Fireface 400, RME Fireface UFX+, RME Fireface UFX, 2x RME Octamic XTC and 2x RME Octamic II
Recording engineer Oscar Torres speaks to Synthax Audio UK about recording with RME hardware, in his work with the Cadaqués Orchestra, Castilla y Leon Symphony Orchestra and Barcelona Symphony Orchestra.
London-based Oscar Torres is an audio engineer who specialises in the recording and editing of classical music. Having studied Music and Sound Engineering in his native Colombia, he moved to the UK in 2006 to pursue a full time career in the recording industry.
Since then he has worked on projects for a variety of well-established record labels including Rubicon, Orchid, Nimbus, Onyx, Guild and Hyperion amongst others. For the past five years he has been responsible for engineering the CD releases of the Spanish label Tritó, including a series of recordings of the Cadaqués Orchestra.
As a long time RME user, Synthax Audio UK was excited to speak to Oscar about his preference for RME interfaces and microphone preamps, which he regularly uses in his work recording classical music around the world.
“I started using RME around 7 years ago” Oscar explains. “My first piece was an RME Fireface 400, an interface that I’m still using to this day. I really like it, it’s been very reliable, and it just works! I still use it when I’m travelling, if I need to do some work in the hotel or anywhere I don’t have access to a full studio. Sometimes the conductor or an artist would like to hear an edit the next day, so I use the Fireface 400 to put something together quickly. It’s a very portable unit that I can easily hook up to a laptop and enables me to run my DAW of choice: Pyramix.
“Since then I’ve continued to use several RME interfaces and mic pres – my current setup includes the original Fireface UFX and the new Fireface UFX+ audio interfaces, along with the Octamic II and Octamic XTC preamps.”
“The equipment works together extremely well – very user friendly and it doesn’t take too much space, which is perfect for jobs in which I have to travel by airplane taking the essential part of the recording rig. I feel that RME really has become a standard of sorts in classical music recording– a lot of engineers in the industry are using RME. The sound is crystal clear and very transparent, not much colour at all, and that really appeals to the world of classical recording. It’s perfect for recording all sort of ensembles, and retains all of the natural warmth and sonic qualities.”
“RME has become a standard of sorts in classical music recording
– a lot of engineers in the industry are using RME.”
Recording Stravinsky and De Falla ballets with conductor Kazushi Ono and Barcelona Symphony Orchestra. Barcelona, July 2017. CD to be released in 2018
RME microphone preamps
In order to record the multitude of instruments he encounters, Oscar regularly performs location recordings with high numbers of microphones and channel-counts. The quality of the mic pres is therefore of vital importance, as Oscar explains.
“I started out using the Octamic II’s which are great units. Of course, in classical you use a lot of pairs of microphones for stereo recording, so that’s where the Octamic XTC is perfect because it allows me to accurately match the gain of the microphones in 1dB steps so I can be totally sure that the gain is identical across the board. This feature of the Octamic XTC becomes very handy at the time of storage and recall the session settings”
“The pres on the UFX are very similar, I like them a lot. And then with the new UFX+, you get a little bit more dynamic range. All of the RME pres are very quiet – the signal to noise ratio is great – especially in comparison with some of the analogue pres that I have, which can suffer from the usual problems associated with analogue, such as hiss.”
DURec – Direct to USB Recording
Recording Mahler and Beethoven 5th symphonies with conductor Gianandrea Noseda and Cadaqués Orchestra and Castilla y Leon Symphony Orchestra. Valladolid, May 2017. CD To be released later in 2017
Oscar went on to give us further details about his mobile recording setup, including his use of RME’s unique ‘DURec’ feature. Found on the new Fireface UFX II and Fireface UFX+, as well as the original Fireface UFX, DURec allows for all input channels to be recorded directly to a USB thumb drive or external hard disk (via the USB port found on the front panel), enabling the devices to operate as standalone hard disk recorders.
“I constantly use the UFX and UFX+’s DURec function. When the original UFX first came out, the DURec feature really appealed to me as I regularly do live recordings – it’s so handy to have that option. If the unfortunate event of a computer crashing happens, the UFX will carry on recording with no glitches whatsoever, so DURec is one of the things I’ve always found it to be totally reliable.”
“I’m also using the new RME ARC USB controller, which is perfect for controlling the transport features of the UFX, for example starting and stopping recordings remotely. This combined with the RME MIDI over MADI technology offers me the possibility of controlling the units remotely, among many other benefits of working with MADI”
“My main DAW is Pyramix, and I use the UFX and UFX+ in tandem to create backup recordings. I actually have two independent systems and run three recordings at any time – the UFX, the UFX+ and Pyramix are all recording simultaneously. With Pyramix I’m of course recording take by take, and the same with the UFX+, so whilst one hand is controlling Pyramix, the other is controlling the UFX+ via the ARC USB. Then with the original UFX I just let it run the whole time. In this way, if I ever were to lose both the UFX+ and Pyramix, the UFX would still be recording. So far this has never happened, but of course with live recordings you can really never be too careful! The signals are sent from the Octamic II and XTC, which I then split via MADI to the UFX+, and via AES/EBU, ADAT or even analogue to the UFX too.”
“Everything connects so seamlessly together.
I really like that about the RME range!”
When asked about the stability of RME gear, Oscar told us “One word – rock-solid!” He also commented on other positive features about RME: “The build quality, reliability and the sound quality of course – once you start building an RME rig it’s all so compatible. Everything connects so seamlessly together. I really like that about the RME range!”
The RME Fireface UFX+, RME's 188 Channel audio interface features a variety of analogue and digital connections, Advanced DURec, TotalMix FX, USB 3.0 & Thunderbolt connectivity, plus equal performance on both Mac and Windows.
The RME ARC USB Advanced Remote Control, for remote control over RME audio interfaces.
TotalMix FX
Of course, no discussion about using RME hardware would be complete without mentioning TotalMix FX, RME’s comprehensive routing and monitoring software, that’s included with all RME audio interfaces. “Totalmix, yes I’m using it all the time! I know that some people feel it’s a bit complicated at first, but really once you understand it it’s actually very intuitive and really user friendly. What I like about it is that everything is right in front of you on one page, all of the features are immediately accessible, no hidden menus or anything, and I like the interface style of a traditional mixing desk too.”
“I love being able to create sub-mixes so quickly, and I can see all of the inputs and outputs with a single mouse-click. Last year I was recording an opera and one day somebody from a TV channel showed up and said he needed an audio feed from me, without giving me a heads up or anything! This could have been a real problem, but thanks to TotalMix it was so simple to route out another submix.”
“In my opinion, if you use RME then you must use TotalMix, it’s such a powerful part of the whole RME package. I sometimes use the EQ’s too, for both recording and monitoring. I’m happy to use them on the inputs too if I feel the need to modify the sound from source. I’ve certainly made a few recordings where I’ve used the EQ’s for shaping the sounds on the way in, and I’ve been perfectly happy with the results. I’ve used DIGICheck sometimes too, which can be very useful as a quick reference for analysing the incoming and playback signals.”
“with RME you definitely get what you pay for!”
To finish off, we asked Oscar what originally drew him to RME. “When I first started researching professional audio equipment, RME was a name that kept coming up – it had a very strong reputation with other professionals that I spoke with. That was 7 or 8 years ago, and I continue to be impressed with RME. Once you research the company, you’ll know that they’re serious about professional audio – they’re always developing new technologies that are actually useful to working engineers. Then once you start working with RME equipment, you’ll quickly realise that it’s of much better quality than a lot of the other options out there, and the price is very competitive too. Whilst there may be some cheaper options available, with RME you definitely get what you pay for!”
Our thanks to Oscar Torres. If you’d like to get in contact with Oscar or listen to more examples of his work, visit his website at www.oscartorres.co.uk
The footage in this video features a combination of footage from Oscar’s recent projects, which he worked on with producer Matthew Bennett. Both recordings will be released by the Spanish label Tritó ( www.trito.es );
1) Recording Mahler and Beethoven 5th symphonies with conductor Gianandrea Noseda and two orchestras (for the Mahler recordings): Cadaqués Orchestra and Castilla y Leon Symphony Orchestra.
Recorded in Valladolid, Spain on the 18th, 19th & 20th May 2017, a combination of two live concerts and recording sessions. CD to be released later in 2017.
2) Recording Stravinsky and De Falla ballets with conductor Kazushi Ono and Barcelona Symphony Orchestra.
The footage was shot during recording sessions in Barcelona, Spain on the 4th, 5th and 6th July 2017. This was the first disc of a double album with the ballets for which Picasso designed the scenography. The second CD will be released in 2018.
If you'd like to know more about any of the RME pro audio solutions mentioned in this article, give us a call on 01727 821 870 to speak to one of our team or to arrange a demo.
You can also contact us here.
Comments Off on Thanks for joining us at the MPX 2016
Thanks to everyone who stopped by the Synthax Audio UK stand at the Music Production Expo (MPX) 2016.
This year’s MPX was held at the Stadium MK in Milton Keynes on Friday 18th and Saturday 19th November, and included a range of seminars hosted by industry professionals. We had a selection of new products on show from our brands including RME, Ultrasone, Ferrofish, Icon Pro Audio, Appsys ProAudio and Pop Audio.
Synthax Audio UK at the MPX 2016
The new RME Fireface UFX+ proved to be of great interest to MPX visitors. The new flagship audio interface from established pro audio brand RME is the company’s most comprehensive recording, mixing and playback device yet, featuring a massive 188 channels of pristine audio, plus both ADAT and MADI connectivity over Thunderbolt and USB 3. We also had the new RME ADI-2 Pro with us, RME's new headphone amp and DAC designed for mastering and critical listening applications.
Other items we had on show at the MPX included the new Multiverter from Appsys ProAudio (pictured left), an ingenious solution for converting audio streams between popular formats such as ADAT, MADI, Dante and AES50, plus the Ferrofish A32, the 32in / 32out AD/DA Converter from German manufacturer Ferrofish, which also features both ADAT and MADI.
New Icon QCon Pro X at the MPX 2016
Another very popular item was the new Icon QCon Pro X. This comprehensive DAW controller features everything a recording engineer needs for both recording and mixing with audio software, and includes motorized faders for easy recall of projects. The QCon Pro X also has built-in support for many of the most popular DAWs including Logic, Cubase, Ableton, Studio One and Pro Tools, along with a MIDI-Map feature for creating custom controls to suit your workflow.
We also had a selection of Ultrasone Headphones, including the popular Signature Pro, plus the new Performance range. Best known for creating limited edition runs of luxury hand-made headphones such as the Ultrasone Edition series, Ultrasone also caters to the professional audio market with its Signature, Performance and Pro ranges.
Pop Audio Pop Filters at the MPX 2016
We also gave away a Pop Audio Pop Filter to two lucky visitors to our stand. Our first winner was Andrew Palmer (pictured left), with our second winner to be announced shortly – congratulations Andrew, we hope you enjoy your new pop filter!
The Pop Audio Pop Filter recently received a 10 out of 10 in MusicTech, as well as the magazine’s “Excellence Award”, who described it as “Quite simply the best pop filter we’ve ever seen” (read the full review here).
Thanks again to everyone who stopped by to see us. If you’d like to know more about any of the products we had on show, feel free to contact us or give us a call on 01727 821 870 to speak to one of our team or to arrange a demo.
Comments Off on RME TotalMix FX v1.20 for iPad is now available from the AppStore
RME TotalMix FX v1.20 now available for iPad
Are you using TotalMix FX on an iPad yet? If not, you should be!
Many of RME’s audio interfaces have the ability to run in Class Compliant mode, giving you the option of using your interface with an iPad and turning it into a multi-track recording device in its own right. With the TotalMix FX iOS app, you have control over your interface in the same way as when using a Mac or PC, making for a powerful portable recording or live mixing solution.
TotalMix FX makes use of the background audio functions found in iOS, so during recording and playback you can seamlessly switch between your recording app and TotalMix FX without a hitch. Also, by combining the standard TotalMix FX with a MIDI control surface app such as TouchOSC, you can control your interface wirelessly, opening up further possibilities for using your RME interface with an iPad – you could perform a sound-check from anywhere in a venue for example.
RME have just released version 1.20, which includes several new additional features – along with some enhancements to the performance of the app, you can now copy and paste your routing and channel strip settings from one channel to another, as well as duplicating any effects you’re sending. You’re also now able to swipe the control panel to the right-hand side for a more streamlined workflow, and the app’s built-in help file has also been improved, including more details about the latest features.
The TotalMix FX iOS app requires iOS 5.1.1 or later, and offers fully-functional compatibility when used with the RME Fireface UCX, Fireface 802 and Fireface UFX (including DURec), as well as support for the Babyface and the new Babyface Pro (although the Reverb and Echo effects are unavailable). Here at Synthax Audio UK, we recommend making the connection between the devices with an official Apple Camera Connection Kit to ensure reliability and performance.
Click the button below to visit the App Store page for TotalMix FX for iPad
Comments Off on Recording Classical Music With Phil Rowlands And RME
The Hong Kong Cultural Centre concert hall where Phil Rowlands recorded Wagner’s Das Rheingold
Phil Rowlands has recorded some of the most renowned classical musicians and orchestras from around the world. Working as both a producer and engineer, he regularly fulfils both of these roles, such as on the recent session he’d just returned from in Mexico, recording the Jalisco Filarmonica, when Synthax Audio UK caught up with him for lunch (in a hotel in Heathrow airport). Although he often works alongside a local recording/engineering company who supply the session with equipment, Phil has found a need to take critical parts of the system with him to ensure the reliability of the recording, including some choice pieces of RME hardware.
Along with being an accomplished musician himself, Phil also has a long-held interest in mathematics and physics, choosing to study the Tonmeister course at the University of Surrey, which allowed him to combine these topics. It was through the course that he was able to land a placement at Abbey Road Studios, where he met many renowned classical engineers and producers including Tim Handley and Andrew Keener, from whom Phil learnt a great deal.
This led to Phil being taken on by Tim Handley as an editor after university, which started him on the path to becoming the respected producer and engineer that he is today.
Under Tim’s stewardship, Phil began working with the classical record label Naxos Records, making recordings of, amongst others, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Whilst technically a freelancer, Phil worked predominantly with Tim until around 2002, before starting to branch out more on his own, becoming one of Naxos’ producers of choice (he still works with Tim every so often, recording Brahms Symphonies with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Marin Alsop, and more recently recording with the Ulster Orchestra and JoAnn Falletta). After many years of working alongside a host of different producers, Phil has acquired a vast amount of experience in recording and mixing to the high standards demanded by the classical genre.
Phil setting up to record via MADI
Recording with the RME Fireface UFX & DURec
When Phil first started recording he was using DAT’s, which were transferred to a computer and edited with Sonic Solutions. He later moved on to using SADiE, and then to Pyramix software too. By making the transition to Pyramix, Phil was able to make use of third party hardware, and this is how he came to use RME.
Phil told us how he was particularly impressed with the DURec function of the RME Fireface UFX, which allows for a simultaneous recording to be made straight to an external hard drive or flash drive as a backup via USB. “I’d tried a few things and found them wanting, but then I discovered RME’s Fireface UFX with DURec. I was recording with Roxana Panufnik and the London Mozart Players in Croydon, and due to a technical error, half a session got deleted right at the end. Fortunately, our bacon was well and truly saved by the DURec backups!”
Recording Wagner’s Ring Cycle for the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra
Phil with his rack of RME – 2x RME Octamic XTC, an RME Octamic II and an RME Fireface UFX
In January 2015, the opportunity arose to record the Hong Kong Philharmonic with Jaap van Zweden conducting and Matthias Goerne singing. The piece was Das Rheingold, the first part of Wagner’s Ring Cycle, which is to be recorded in full from live concert performances mounted over the next four years. Klaus Heymann, the head of Naxos Records, had agreed to issue it, and knowing that Phil is a big “Wagnerite”, he recommended Phil to the orchestra to record it.
For this project, Phil was both engineering and producing, with a local team to help set up, and so he needed to take his own trusted equipment along with him to the other side of the world. Up to this point, Phil had been primarily using 2 Fireface UFX’s in tandem, giving 40 inputs along with some extra mic preamps. This required the use of an analogue multicore cable, which he’d always had to hire in because of their weight. It was on this concert however, that Phil chose to experiment with RME’s MADI options, which provides very high channel counts in very small and portable solutions. Using his own RME MADIface XT, he was able to record the production’s close string mics with a set of RME Octamic XTCs, which were provided by the distributor in Hong Kong. Of the Octamic XTCs, Phil says “Once I’d seen them in action I decided it was the way to go, and I now own 32 channels’ worth myself. It’s just such an easy solution to these super-complex jobs.”
Regarding the setup and recording process for the Ring Cycle, Phil told us, “the Wagner recording required 64 channels, with lots of single mics across the front of the stage to capture a concert performance. It was quite complex to mic up, with anvils (used as an effect in the Ring Cycle) and Rhinemaidens (characters in the performance) offstage in the wings. The XTCs were mounted in the trussing, with close string mics hanging down from them. About 60 mics in total, and some reverb returns. It all went into a Studer mixing desk, which we split and had recording redundancy to (DAW) Reaper.”
Phil took one Pyramix with him as his main recording system, and also a single Fireface UFX capturing a 16 channel stem mix onto SADiE, routed from the Madiface XT via an RME MADI to ADAT converter. When he arrived back in the UK he created another 24 track stem mix, using his faithful Lexicon 960 for post production duties at his home studio. The record is due for release this Autumn, with the second instalment, Die Walküre, scheduled for recording in January 2016.
Recording Stephen Hough at the Symphony Hall Birmingham
Recording Stephen Hough at the Symphony Hall in Birmingham
On the 18th and 19th March 2015, Martin Warr of Synthax Audio UK met up with Phil at the Symphony Hall Birmingham to attend a recording of the distinguished pianist Stephen Hough performing Dvorak’s Piano Concerto live in concert, with the conductor Andris Nelsons and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra for Hyperion Records.
This was the first time Phil had used his full RME MADI system, comprising of 3 x Octamic XTCs and a Fireface UFX (going in on ADAT to one of the Octamics to provide additional channels). The recorded signals were fed to the control room via a 50m MADI cable, with Phil controlling the gains of the Octamic XTCs fully remotely, using RME’s MIDI over MADI.
Phil explains, “the beautifully small and light MADI cable is then routed back to the control room – which is actually the Symphony Hall’s piano store – where you are surrounded by shrouded Steinways! We recorded the rehearsals and two live performances. It’s going to form the second part of a disc, complimenting the Schumann concerto recorded back in November 2014, which has been commissioned for release by Hyperion records.”
Once the MADI stream reached the control room it was connected to Phil’s MADIface XT, which was connected to the Pyramix system to capture the master raw files. The MADIface XT was then used to send an identical MADI stream to an RME ADI-6432 (a MADI to AES converter), which in turn fed into a Yamaha O2R96 digital mixer. This gave Phil control over the faders, allowing him to create a stem mix for the producer Tim Oldham, which was sent to another Fireface UFX for recording.
Phil Rowlands with his RME suite
Phil Rowlands’ thoughts on RME
Since acquiring all the pieces of his full MADI solution, Phil says the system gives him “reliability, convenience and sound quality in one package. The reliability is second to none, and I’ve found it to be incredibly convenient since introducing the MADI components. RME is totally unfussy, and just works – it’s always best to have something that you can trust and you don’t have to think about. RME gives me that. The minute you’re thinking about the technology, you’re not thinking about the music anymore.”
Comments Off on Flexibility Of RME And TotalMix FX Key For Post-Production Engineer Dave Moore
Engineer, mixer and music editor Dave Moore
“Film and TV scoring has always felt like it is at the heart of what I do. It often employs the most current technology, and is probably the best example of creativity coming head to head with technical and human limitations, which is the space us engineers often find ourselves occupying!”
Dave Moore is a recording engineer, mixer and music editor. He spent many years as a studio engineer at Phoenix Sound, based at Pinewood Studios, working with a wide range of recording artists and soon focusing on orchestral recording and film scoring. Alongside this, Dave has worked as part of the music team and sound department on almost every series of the X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent as music editor and engineer. He has also made records with a range of experimental artists, most notably MOBO award winning jazz artists Empirical.
Most recently he has worked on films like Skyfall and Les Miserables and has been working with legendary composer Alan Menken on ABC/Disney’s new musical comedy series Galavant.
Dave has worked as part of the music team and sound department on almost every series of the X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent
Dave also has a close working relationship with Swedish composer Johan Söderqvist (best known outside of Scandinavia for his groundbreaking score for Let The Right One In and In A Better World, which won an Oscar in 2011). In the last 4 years, they have collaborated on scores for 12 movies along with a number of television series and live performances. They are currently working on season 3 of Swedish/Danish crime drama The Bridge, with RME hardware and software playing an important role in the workflow.
“I’ve had RME hardware in my studio for a long time and the RME Fireface UFX has been my primary interface on my mix rig for the last two years. I’ve tried many other native interfaces on the market over the years and nothing else has the flexibility I need. In comparison to upgrading the whole system to TDM, the price is surprisingly low considering what you get. On the occasions we need to record outside of a professional studio, working with a Native system is always going to result in a compromise with latency, but TotalMix FX is hands down the best option without shelling out a fortune – it’s so flexible.”
“We mix everything in the box – kind of an imperative when dealing with so much material and the need to get back to recalls constantly – but we use some external reverbs. Obviously we need enough outputs for surround monitoring, so the UFX has a perfect set of i/o for what I need, and if we need to expand in the future there are plenty of options within RME’s range that would fit the bill.”
It’s not just current RME hardware that has been employed in the studio however. Dave explains, “Johan has been using RME hardware for well over 10 years, starting with ADAT cards and now MADI interfaces. He is extremely particular about sound quality, so it’s great I can have the confidence to commit to using the Fireface UFX, knowing that he won’t walk from his writing room environment to my mix room and feel anything is lacking.”
What really drives the team’s workflow, much like many people now in post production and making music for film, is the ability to work remotely across a number of different locations.
TotalMix FX – RME’s comprehensive routing and mixing software is included with all RME audio interfaces
“TotalMix has been fantastic for our workflow, which has been evolving gradually over the years. We do a lot remotely now, with Johan and his co-writers/arrangers often in different locations around Sweden, and I’ll be in London pulling it all together and pre-mixing in my studio. Moving between Pro Tools systems can often be a huge time-suck. Even though the i/o routing has improved in recent versions of Pro Tools, if you don’t plan meticulously ahead there can often be one or two things that need re-routing when you try and open the session up in a new location – which is obviously fine for a of couple songs, but when you have 60+ cues to mix you can lose hours of precious mixing time and you can be forced into making decisions too early on in the process. Since we’ve mirrored the hardware wherever I go, all I have to do is set the routing within TotalMix and everything can stay untouched in the Pro Tools sessions, which seems like a very simple thing, but it’s clawed back a huge amount of time.”
Season 3 of The Bridge is due to air in Sweden and Denmark Autumn 2015 and soon after in the UK.
Comments Off on Clean Bandit Would “Rather Be” With An RME Fireface UFX
Jack and Luke Patterson of Clean Bandit with 2 x RME Fireface UFX
Clean Bandit are a four piece electronic group with a twist – two of the members are classical string players! Their certified multi platinum hit “Rather Be” stayed at the top of the UK charts for four weeks and was dubbed the “Sound of the Summer” for 2014. Following on from the success of the single, their debut album “New Eyes” hit number 3 in the UK in June of the same year. Synthax UK met up with brothers Jack and Luke Patterson to talk about their favoured setup for recording and performing live.
They set up their own studio in London to start recording, and based it around an RME Fireface UFX interface. “All the string parts in the final mix for “Rather Be” were recorded in that studio, and therefore through the UFX”, Jack tells me. “I have to say, they sound great!”.
When the album was finished and it was time to set up a touring rig for the summer’s intensive gigging season, it made sense for them to continue using their trusted Fireface UFX. In fact they bought a second, to create a classic “A / B mirrored” keyboard rig, based around two Mac Minis (side by side in a 1U rack frame), the two UFXs, and some neat ruggedised screens which you can just see on top of the rack in the photo. Their live software of choice is Ableton.
Because the playback rack is so portable they can use it at many different kinds of gigs and public appearances. Sometimes the playback audio goes into a mixing console and main PA. But in other situations where there’s no house desk, they need to mix themselves. As Jack explained, “In those situations, because all RME products come complete with TotalMix FX, and that’s a complete standalone mixer, we are able to use TotalMix FX controlled from an iPad via Touch OSC as our main mixer. No console required!”
Once again, RME provides the balance of great sound, reliability, and excellent functionality that bands the world over have come to rely on.
Many thanks to Jack and Luke from Clean Bandit for their time, and good luck with your future endeavours!
Comments Off on RME Now Available At PMT Stores Throughout UK
RME Now Available At PMT Stores Throughout the UK
PMT is now one of the UK’s largest and most successful musical instrument and pro audio retailers in the UK, and you only need to step into one of their 12 stores to understand why. They are veritable caves of gear heaven with a huge choice of guitars, basses, amps, drums and PA systems, as well as a range of computer music solutions. Their staff are also very knowledgeable and very helpful.
So, it is with great excitement that we can announce that RME Audio is now available in all 12 stores throughout the UK as well as on the PMT Online website.
As always, we pride ourselves on authorising only those dealers whose staff we have trained to offer you the very best help and advice on RME products, and the PMT guys really do know their tech from their spec.
Comments Off on Fire & Ice: The RME Fireface UFX Meets Dry Ice in Gloucester Cathedral
Recording with RME in Gloucester Cathedral
Over the years RME equipment has been employed in almost any situation you can imagine; from the most famous recording studios and live tours, like Abbey Road, Coldplay and Iron Maiden, to high-profile sports broadcasts including Wimbledon, Premiership football and the Ryder Cup. You may even spot some of RME’s blue fronted wizardry on-board vessels monitoring whale movements and buried in the guts of ultra-high tech aviation simulators.
We thought we’d seen everything until Mark Hartt-Palmer raised the bar for atmosphere! In the below pictures you’ll find the RME Fireface UFX giving its usual sterling service against the rather spectral back-drop of Gloucester Cathedral. Apparently the BBC had been filming Sherlock earlier in the day and filled the place with dry ice!
The flagship RME interface, renowned for its transparent sound and unrivalled reliability, was selected by Mark to record an Organ CD for Willowhayne Records.
Recording with RME in Gloucester Cathedral
RME Fireface UFX recording on location in Gloucester Cathedral
Comments Off on Conrad Fletcher Talks About The Mixbus, MADI and RME
Conrad Fletcher onboard his cutting edge mobile recording facility the ‘MixBus’
You may already know Conrad Fletcher and the “SounDesign” team for their work on some of the most prestigious recent events in the UK, including The Queens Diamond Jubilee Concert at Buckingham Palace, The Coronation Festival at Buckingham Palace, The Royal Variety Performance, over 20 National Theatre “NT Lives”, V Festival, Don Black at the Royal Festival Hall, The Olivier Awards, the Voice (BBC), The X Factor Final (ITV 1), The Xtra Factor (ITV2) and War Horse – the first ever 4k live to cinema transmission.
His knowledge and attention to detail is second to none and this is apparent with the the Mixbus, his large format mobile recording facility which features active acoustics and a cinema surround system, all packed into just a 8m long truck that is less than 7.5 tonnes.
Comments Off on Future Memory at the Red Road Estate
The site of Matt Saunders’ audio art exhibit, the Red Road tower block in Glasgow
Envelope-pushing audio guru, sound engineer and RME Fireface UFX user Matt Saunders has been busy turning the 27 storey Red Road tower block in Glasgow into an enormous soundscape.
Read on for his entertaining account of the unique challenges involved…
“It’s bigger than I expected”, I said in a slightly squeaker voice than I had intended. “I don’t think the EV S200s are really going to hack it”
I was standing in front of a gutted residential tower block in the north east of Glasgow, part of the Red Road estate, put up in the sixties and heralded as the new way of living. The soviet states all sent their architects there to learn of the new paradigm in architecture. It must be observed that they learnt their lesson well.
Once the tallest residential development in Europe and the icon for social development across the world, Red Road became a dumping ground for all those that the authorities didn’t want to see, understand or have anything to do with and was left to run down until it was no better than the tenements it was intended to replace.
These thoughts whirled through my head as I contemplated the 27 storey high, 110m wide structure, now vacant of people, walls and windows and began to realise that I was going to have to respecify everything.
Everything, that is, apart from my RME Fireface UFX. That and my battered old HP laptop.
The project was to turn the block into a sound sculpture for a day as the next instalment of an on going, if sporadic, series of multimedia events called ‘Future Memory’.
My intention was to use, or probably more accurately misuse, ambisonics to spread a soundscape across the front of the building. The brief (a phone call) had been sparse, involving the words ‘tower block’ and ‘sound sculpture’ but not ‘gargantuan monolith’ or ‘bloody great lump of steel and concrete’ and this had lead me sorely to underestimate the scale and majesty of the building.
RME Fireface UFX audio interface
The sounds were to be interviews with past residents of the estate, songs and games collected from the local schools and social clubs, the noise of the local environment and the fabric of the block itself. These were to weave across the front of the building so as to bring it to life again for one last afternoon to celebrate all that was happy, fun and beautiful about life in what was generally considered, mainly by outsiders, to be a disaffected, run down and undesirable place to live.
Inside of the Red Road tower block
I was put in touch with the glorious leader of the Glasgow branch of Cameron Presentations, who turned out to be the inestimable Campbell MacLeod, two clans in one man very handy for social gatherings. He quickly grasped the social and political significance of the project, not to mention the sheer barking insanity of it, and settled down with me to spec up speakers, amps and ting. Without the professionalism, dedication and inventiveness of Campbell and his team the project might never have got off the drawing board.
We decided, after much discussion, to use 10 stacks of d&b Q7, fed by d&b D12 amps, in two horizontal rows of five across the front of the building. I would like to have placed them in more of a circle but the, perfectly understandable, health and safety constraints of the demolition contractors meant we couldn’t take equipment above the top blast floor. Oh yes, blast floor. I may have omitted to mention that the block has been stripped for demolition for a couple or more years. But for the presence of a pair of peregrine falcons that have made it home, feasting royal on the fine crop of pigeons and rats that now inhabit it, the monolith would have been long toppled.
These were to be fed directly by the UFX with a Presonus DigiMax Fs giving the last pair of balanced outs. The UFX was connected via FireWire to the laptop which ran TotalMix FX and AudioMulch, a wonderful audio performance engine, created by Ross Benicia. The Presonus was ADATed to the UFX and clocked on the BNC.
I wanted to achieve a mixture of well located and more diffuse sound sources so I decided to use a mixture of 1st order and 3rd order ambisonic techniques, the 3rd order giving good accurate location and the 1st more of a wash.
AudioMulch was the processing heart of the rig. It handled the playing of sound files, the i/o necessary for the live sound sources, gain regulation and all of the ambisonic panners, rotators, encoders and decoders in the form of VST plugins. Some of these were freeware, written by the fair hand of Dr. Bruce Wiggins of Derby University under the moniker WigWare, others were custom written for the performance by the aforementioned and still more by Richard Furse of Blue Ripple Sound, he of the Furse Malham equations.
The UFX and AudioMulch were then to be controlled over wifi from an iPad (other tablets are available) so as I could stand with the audience in front of the building and sculpt from there. The UFX was controlled with TouchOSC using the jolly good template that Matthias and the chaps at RME wrote. AudioMulch, which I fear has yet to use OSC, was controlled using TB Midi Stuff and rtpmidi midi bridge. TB Midi Stuff has one great advantage over TouchOSC in that the template editor is built into the app, which for constantly evolving live performance controllers is useful, to say the least, when artistic and logistic demands have you and the composer/curator awake at 3:00 am, on the day of the performance, mutating the instrument and moulding it to suit our desires.
The composer/curator was Dr. Marion Wood, past head of music at Exeter University and though we have known each other more years than is proper to reveal, our schedules had not allowed us to do more than Skype until we were both sitting in a hotel room in Glasgow with the Damacletian deadline of the performance hanging over us.
So the day dawned and, less bright eyed and bushy tailed than I, or Marion, would have hoped, we gathered at the block to make it happen. Due to site security issues we had not been able to rig any of the equipment prior to the event so everything had to work first time.
This brings me to my first lesson to impart. When working in stripped out tower blocks with no lifts left, only one staircase and running off generators used by the demolition contractors, always take a photo of the generator when trying to acquire the cable to feed a lot of amps on the ninth floor of a building 50m away from the generator. This rule came to me as I contemplated the single phase 63 amp socket in the side of the generator and the 3 phase 63 amp plug in my hand. This conundrum was solved by finding a 3 phase supply in a yet to be de asbestosed block 400m away. We did have to borrow the cable from the 32 storey moving access platform to reach it. By the way, 100m 3 phase 63 amp cables are very heavy, long before you reach the ninth floor, trudging up the stairs.
Electricity supplied I am brought to my second lesson. Be ruthless with your composer. I had scheduled 2 hours for getting the wrinkles out of the rig before the performance was to start. I finally got the laptop and the audio rack 10 minutes before zero hour. Sound files were still being wrangled and composition was still being performed until the last minute in a nearby community centre.
I crossed the 1/3 of a mile and scaled the heights of the blast floor in record time. And this is why I use RME gear. It just works. I had eight minutes to get it all happening and I knew I could rely on the UFX to do its job elegantly with no nasty surprises. The Cameron’s team have every cable laid out in sequence and before the laptop has booted all the hardware is connected. Now for the wifi.
Allow me a flight of fancy. Imagine a world where networks just worked, name spaces and address spaces walk hand in hand in Elysian Fields. A world where everyone talks the same protocols, say OSC, and things just work. A world where wifi midi bridges are a quaint notion like alchemy.
Suffice to say after many reboots of iPads, wifi switches and software restarts everything finally flickered its own sweet message of love and then I was left with a dilemma. Mix the event from the blast floor or risk loosing the wifi signal as I run down the only remaining, steel enclosed, like some faraday cage, stairway.I took the third option and asked Rab, our demolition contractor liaison, to lower my ipad-containing shoulder bag nine stories down the front of the building on a rope whilst I legged it down the stairs. Reunited at the bottom I still had a connection and we were ready to weave.
And we did. We started only one minute late and, though ‘the rain slammed hard as bars’ (Joni Mitchell) and a pair of minor waterfalls cascaded off our hard hats, Marion and I succeeded in our mission and the building sang.
Now for the Oscar speech. None of this would have been possible without the funding and support of Glasgow and Exeter universities. The same goes for Street Level Photographic Studios, where the wonder who is Iseult Timmermans creates and works. She was the project coordinator and our earth strap, grounding us with a healthy dose of reality when our flights of fancy soared unfeasably high. And then there is Safedem, the demolition contractors and Rab and his team. They allowed us more freedom than I would have considered possible and provided the 500m of cable that enabled us to get power to our equipment when all else failed. Apex Generators came up trumps by loaning us all the distribution boxes and cable we needed to route the power to the necessary locations. Ralph Dunlop at Sound Network for the loan of various DPA microphones. Bruce Wiggins at Derby University for his coding and plugins. I could waffle on endlessly but I will draw the line by saying that anyone who feels forgotten or left out has my heartfelt thanks.
Finally I must thank the pair of peregrine falcons, without whom there would be no shell of a building (and I wouldn’t have got the chance to play with an icon of failed social engineering).
Matt Saunders
Our thanks to Matt for providing the words for this article.
Comments Off on Using the RME MADIface USB in the Field… Literally!
The RME MADIface USB in use alongside TotalMix FX
RME has won many fans in the live recording sector over the years, largely thanks to supreme reliabilty and unrivalled performance. Professional sound engineer Rob Baldock shares his experiences below.
When choosing the equipment to capture live events, the main focus for me has always been on reliability. The recording can never be allowed to fail and it has to be of studio-level quality. The main recording rig I’ve run for years is based around Alesis HD24s and external pre-amps. It’s a solid system that has served me well for the last eight years or so.
I’ve used RME products for years. Starting off with the old faithful and reliable Digi9652 ADAT cards in the studio. The first time I ever used an RME device on a live show was at The London Palladium with Patrick Wolf in 2009. The FOH desk was a Digico SD7 and the only way we could interface was via MADI, so we hired in the RME ADI 648 to convert the MADI stream to lightpipe so we could capture all of the mics on stage. It was so quick to set up and so solid that we used the ADI 648 quite a few times after that, most notably as a redundancy recording for Chase & Status’ massive gig at The O2 in December 2013. Incidentally, the main recording for this show was through the HDSPe MADI FX card inside a Mac Pro…RME all round!
I’ve recently invested in an RME Fireface UFX, which, in combination with my MacBook Pro enables me to have a smaller recording rig when flying out to shows or traveling by train.
We were approached again this year to record Splendour Festival’s main stage for the recently launched Notts TV channel. All bands on this stage – including Happy Mondays and Scouting For Girls – would be using the main house line system provided by ESS – so we could take a split into our pre-amps and record on the HD24s. Headliner, Tom Odell’s crew, however, would be bringing their own Digico consoles and running their own digital stagebox. In order to capture this show we’d need to be able to interface with their setup. While I knew I could rely on RME’s MADI products to capture the set without a hitch, I immediately considered the ADI 648, however the changeover would need to be extremely quick between Happy Mondays and Tom Odell and there would be no soundcheck – you rarely get a soundcheck at festivals. Considering that the main “A Rig” of the HD24s would still be hooked up for all the other bands, I needed to run a MADI feed to a completely separate recording system – the “B Rig”!
Having spoken to Martin & Rob at Synthax, they recommended the RME MADIface USB. Perhaps one of the most impressive things that first struck me is that there was no additional installation involved. Straight out of the box, the drivers and TotalMix software I already had installed for my Fireface UFX worked instantly with the MADIface USB from the second I plugged it in. My recording software of choice, Reaper, instantly recognised the device and offered me the option to record via the MADIface USB – and, as predicted, we didn’t get any kind of sound check for Tom Odell – but on the night it just worked perfectly and we didn’t miss a note! What’s more, I had a rig capable of recording up to 64 channels – that would all fit inside a small backpack!
I can’t see a time when I won’t want to use RME products. They’re just solid, quick and easy to set up, the software is simple but extremely powerful and they just work…flawlessly, every time!
We are pleased to announce that we have hit our first million views on our YouTube channel SynthaxTV, and it’s all thanks to you and our loyal following around the world.
We’re particularly grateful to those producers, engineers and techs who took the time out to talk to us about how and why they’re using our products, especially RME. We have interviewed some of the best live professionals in the business including Miller (Coldplay), Tony Newton (Iron Maiden), Kerry Hopwood (George Michael & Depeche Mode) and Tony Smith (Elton John).
If you'd like to know more about any of the RME pro audio solutions mentioned in this article, give us a call on 
