this new recording uses the valve mic preamps I built over the last couple of months.

It was a learning process for using the new gear and for some recording and mixing techniques we hadn’t used before.

The arrangement features more overdubs than most of our prior work, and is [...]]]>

Ice Sculptor Isotope 14 version Cover Art

this new recording uses the valve mic preamps I built over the last couple of months.

It was a learning process for using the new gear and for some recording and mixing techniques we hadn’t used before.

The arrangement features more overdubs than most of our prior work, and is a step towards what we will do on the next full album. The lyrics have also been reworked, see the pillowfish website for details and download!

The lundahl 1538 input transformers sounds great as expected, very open and detailed but the much cheaper OEP A262A3E is not too bad at all either with a pleasing solidity, although a little less detail.

Claritycap capacitors from ICW were the overall [...]]]> they sound great! I have tried a variety of critical components, different capacitors and transformers.

The lundahl 1538 input transformers sounds great as expected, very open and detailed but the much cheaper OEP A262A3E is not too bad at all either with a pleasing solidity, although a little less detail.

Claritycap capacitors from ICW were the overall winner for coupling capacitors.

More when I get time….

Recording the Zouk

every musician, producer, engineer and listener should know and care about this…

disappointing that their DR measurement plugin is not yet available for osx…

improvements will follow as I have time…

Here’s the update [...]]]> hmm, so I haven’t posted anything for a long time, i think this is because I feel I have to post something interesting and complete. Being on twitter has cured me of this, so I’m now going to post smaller things as they occur to me if they are too large for twitter.

Here’s the update on headphones…. incomplete because funds are limited…

I tried the AKG flagship (open hifi) headphone K701. I was disappointed. Although beautifully made, comfortable, and marvelously detailed they simply don’t give an accurate rendition of the music, its hyped and heavily over emphasised in the treble. And there some sort of weird phasing effect I can’t put my finger on. I found them enjoyable on less then 10% of music, and I couldn’t trust them in the studio since they sound so different from most other equipment and I need to make music that translates onto any equipment.

I think AKG have succumbed in recent years to a perceived need to make their products sound more exciting – at the expense of correctness. It just doesnt work for me.

I sold the K701s and bought a pair of vintage now discontinued, nearly unobtainable AKG K500 . These are much much better…. although still more unforgiving than my K271 (which make most things sound good) and a bit light in the bass, these headphones are the revelation I had been hoping for on well recorded music.

The K500s have magnificent soundstage and immersion, great detail and an open natural sound. However – they don’t emphasise the bass as much as we have grown used to for rock music, and they will show up flaws in an imperfect recording. They also are quite difficult to drive and a powerful dedicated headphone amp is required to get the best out of them.

I recommend the K500 as an audiophile or studio mix reference headphone. However for most casual listening the K271 get used more since they make even poor recordings sound ok, isolate from outside noise, and are easily driven by even my Cowon D2 portable media player. Ok the D2 is very powerful for a portable, but still.

One more tidbit – I also found a pair of AKG K530 very cheap.(£40) If you can find them this cheap they are a steal. These use the exact same driver as the K271, but with a cheaper construction and an silly bass ported semi open design. They also lack the K271 auto off switch and removable cable. They are made in china as opposed to the K271 being made in austria. Out of the box they are over bassy due to the bass ported design, however – if you block off the ports with tape (requires disassembly) then you have a set of phones that sound almost indistinguishable from the K271 at half the price. I use these for mobile use, since then I’m not risking my K271s in the big bad world.

I see many places are asking a price nearly as much as the K271, – don’t pay more than £50 get the 271 in that case.

well that will do for a “short” blog…..

I tried out 4 pairs of in ear monitors (IEMs) these were:

Westone UM1, Westone UM2, Futuresonics Atrio, Etymotics ER4S

What do they each sound like?

Westone UM1Very midrange heavy. Severely recessed treble and bass. An unpleasant and fatiguing upper midrange peak at about 3khz. Usable with precise [...]]]> Well, in the last month I’ve learned a LOT about headphones.

I tried out 4 pairs of in ear monitors (IEMs) these were:

Westone UM1, Westone UM2, Futuresonics Atrio, Etymotics ER4S

What do they each sound like?

Westone UM1
Very midrange heavy. Severely recessed treble and bass. An unpleasant and fatiguing upper midrange peak at about 3khz. Usable with precise digital EQ to improve the frequency response. Clear and cohesive sound within the above limitations.

Westone UM2
Same as UM1 in mids and highs. Much more bass, due to 2 driver design, mostly in the mid bass, rather than exceptional low bass extension. 3k peak still there but less noticable because of overwhelming bass. Bass is muddy. Overall sound superficially more balanced than UM in that it only lacks treble rather than bass, but sound is actually less clear, possibly due to crossover. Responds less well to EQ than UM1. Overall not really usable.

Futuresonics Atrio
Absolutely huge amounts of quite nice sounding bass, which nevertheless totally overwhelm the rest of the music. Annoying peak at about 5k whilst less annoying then the 3k peak in the westones is still ultimately fatiguing. Smoother more natural sound in some ways than the westones. Overall not really usable.

Etymotics ER4S
A breath of fresh air compared with the others. Full frequency response. Very good detail and clarity. Bass light compared to many other more hyped headphones, however the bass is there, its clear deep, and correct, just not as emphasised as many music listeners might like. Overall sound is very clear, but nothing like as enveloping and involving as a good set of full size headphones.

The level of detail and clarity is similar of slightly superior to the (full size, closed, pro studio) K271s, but the overall graciousness of the sound and feeling of space and immersion in the music (soundstage) is not as good. The K271 has a little more bass.

Fit, comfort and design

Both westone earphones fit very neatly in the outer ear, with an angled tube that enters the ear canal, with your choice of sealing eartip (the supplied comply foams are excellent) in contrast the Atrio is a similar design but less successful, and the Etymotics are simply a cylinder, with a narrower cylinder extending from it to take the eartip.

The Westones have high quality cables that don’t transmit much vibration, the Atrios are less good, and the cables on the Etys are very prone to transmitting vibration to the ear. This can be reduced by wearing the cables over the top of the ear, the westones are designed specifically with this in mind, and even the Etys can be worn with the cable in this way.

I didn’t use the silicon flange eartips that came with the Etys and the Atrios, since they just don’t work for me. The foams supplied with the Etys are very effective, but don’t look like they would last long, and are not as comfortable as the comply foams supplied with the westones. I am now using my etys with the westone comply foams.

At first I found the Etys the least ergonomically successful, that they stuck too far out of my ear, and there was no obvious way to wear them correctly, unlike the westone which is made to be worn in a specific position. This was frustrating since they have by far the best sound. However I found after a while that if I got the angle just right, I could get the Etys deeper into my ear than the other phones, this meant that they stick out less, facilitates wearing the cable over the ear, and slightly improves the bass response. Worn deeper like this they are sufficiently unobtrusive to wear on stage, which is after all the whole point.

After much consideration, we in Pillowfish are going with the Ety ER4S for stage monitoring, rather than getting custom moulded in ear monitors. This is because I have had hard acrylic custom moulded musicians earplugs in the past and found them uncomfortable, and because we feel that the sound quality of IEMs is not as high as we had hoped, so we are treating any non-resaleable purchases with great caution.

However I did research custom moulded IEMs extensively, and top of our list are the Livewires, although I can’t speak to the sound quality since I haven’t taken the irrevocable plunge and ordered some. It may happen in the future.

Isolation from outside noise

Most full size high quality listening headphones (AKG K701, Sennheiser HD650 et al) are open back and provide very little reduction in ambient noise. I think this is silly, but apparently its easier to make them sound good that way. Some people like to be able to hear the doorbell or phone I guess. Recording studio tracking headphones like our K271 have to provide isolation because otherwise the headphone sound leaks into the performers mic.

In ear monitors seal the ear canal, its critical to the way they work, and so all provide very good ambient noise reduction, although the amount varies. The Et ER4S with the supplied foams eartips claim a ambient noise reduction figure of over 40dB, which is the highest of any earphone, and almost unbelievable. 20-30dB is much more typical. From experience I can confirm that with the ER4s fitted properly I have trouble hearing what someone is saying to me 3 feet away unless they raise their voice , even with the music off. Most other phones are not this extreme, and the amount of isolation varies depending on the eartips used and how good a fit is achieved.

Conclusions

* Full size over ear headphones offer far better sound quality than in ear monitors for a given price.

* my AKG K271 are really very good.

* I don’t recommend less than full size headphones for any purpose other than performers who have to look like they are not wearing headphones on stage. The only exception to this is where extreme isolation from outside noise and/or small size are more important than sound quality, for example, I can see the ER4S being great for plane trips, although if you have space fullsize phones with good isolation like these are likely to also be an excellent option. For some reason some people think that wearing fullsize headphones in public is socially unacceptable. I don’t really understand why.

* for people listening to our gigs on second life, I recommend a full size headphone. If you want to hear exactly what we are hearing while we play, get the AKG K271, if you want a cheaper option that still sounds good, there are a great many out there, and as I discover more about them I’ll post here. If you don’t like big headphones or are on a really tight budget the in-earCX300s remain an ok option. I really wouldn’t advise any listeners to bother with in ear monitor or ear canal headphones, but if you must, then the ER4S is by far the best I’ve tried. However that amount of money put into fullsize headphones would get you a vastly better listening experience.

All that said almost any headphone will sound better than laptop speakers, speakers built into a screen, or cheapo computer extension speakers.

To go off topic of headphones, but relevant to listening to SL gigs – For those looking for a budget but high quality small speaker I highly recommend the Fostex PM0.4 , amazingly good sound for the price, although of course the same money put into headphones will get you a much better sound again.

Coming soon, more on full size headphones, I tried the AKG K701, and much to my surprise find that I can’t recommend it, more details next time…