Welcome once again to Sage Audio’s Emerging Studio Technology blog series. This semi-regular series takes a look at the latest and greatest (and sometimes not so greatest) gadgets and technologies for studios. Some of the things we cover are designed specifically for home studio recording, while other technology may fit better in our own CD mastering studio. But most components can be of use to many engineers, producers and musicians – if it’s new and related to recording or mastering studios, you’ll find it here.
JHS Pedals – SuperBolt
Do you like boutique guitar pedals? What about the sound of vintage Supro guitar amps? If so, you’re in luck with this new guitar pedal from JHS, which replicates the sound of Supro amps made famous by Jimmy Page and many others.
The Supro company closed its doors for good in 1968, but the sound of the 1960’s Supro Amps has been sought after ever since.
“From its touch-sensitivity to the way the pedal sags with tube rectifier color at higher gain settings, the SuperBolt will give any guitar rig a versatile and useful new set of tones,” says the JHS website. “[Y]ou will have the ability to make any guitar rig drip with vintage soul and attitude that no pedal has ever delivered – until now.”
FX Doctor – Super 8-Bit Fuzz
On a completely different note in the land of guitar pedal news, the folks at FX Doctor have made the Super 8-Bit Fuzz pedal that converts your guitar signal into a sound similar to the 8-bit sounds that accompany classic arcade games. The pedal even looks like a controller for the original Nintendo!
But the pedal actually has a wider range than it might appear upon first glance.
“The notes feel like a keyboard; immediate attack and the note just disappears suddenly when used in a more traditional manner,” says the website for the pedal. “The ‘Stability’ control is used to change the pedal from your standard high gain fuzz to an unstable mass of noise, self-oscillations, and octave-dropping goodness.”
Reloop – TAPE
Sticking with a theme of products that look like they come straight out of the 80’s, TAPE looks like an audio cassette, but the technology is straight out of the new millennium.
“The mixtape is back!” declares the Reloop official website.
Ostensibly designed for DJs, TAPE can be used for a wide variety of purposes, and provides an easy way to record on the go without a computer or recording software. The recorded audio then goes straight to a USB drive in MP3 format, so there’s no need to burn the track before transferring it your computer or other venue.
Solid State Logic – Duality Pro Station
Finally, though Sage Audio’s emerging studio technology blog usually features items that independent artists and home studios will be interested in, sometimes we like to dream a little. And that’s why I’m writing about the new Pro Station version of the Solid State Logic Duality console.
SSL has been producing some of the best consoles around since the late 1960’s and this one is just a beauty. It combines the best of the SSL SuperAnalogue mixing console in a great DAW environment. The screen in the center is even mobile via a gas-powered arm, and a HD webcam mounted on the back allows engineers to “look through” the screen.
So, Why A Membership?
Let’s face it — trying to create professional mixes without the correct knowledge, tools, services, and network is like playing a concert with a broken instrument to an audience of no one.
That’s where the Sage Audio membership comes in — the membership gives you everything you need to create professional mixes consistently.
The membership is the secret to your success — it’s the difference between the 1,929,999,999 of poor-sounding mixes and the .00000002% of mixes that make people say 'WOW!"
There are 7 unique value-points included in your Sage Audio membership.
Let’s go over each one so you can decide if the membership is right for you.
1. Sage Audio University
- SAU Flagship Mixing Course: 23-video in-depth mixing course that reveals the little-known secrets of mixing and matches the needs of the new music industry.
- SAU Flagship Mastering Course: 19-video in-depth modern mastering course that dives into every nuance of making professional-sounding masters.
- SAU Pre-Mastering Course: Concise pre-mastering course that details the latest industry standards for preparing your mixes for mastering.
- SAU is designed for every experience level, ranging from budding mixing engineers to advanced engineers. The techniques and concepts taught can be applied to any DAW to create industry-leading mixes without expensive software or plugins - and free plugin alternatives are suggested throughout each course.
- Each SAU course includes Start-to-Finish session walkthrough lessons for multiple genres so you can follow along with your preferred genre.
- SAU Certification Document, which can be downloaded and showcased on your website and social channels.
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2. Private 1-on-1 Mentorship
- The Sage Audio private 1-on-1 Mentorship gives you direct access to us for advanced mixing feedback, in-depth discussions, and customized guidance that's tailored to your specific needs.
- Unlimited private access to us for advanced mixing feedback, where we provide detailed suggestions for improvement.
- Unlimited private access to us for in-depth discussions to help you improve every aspect of your mixes and masters.
- Customized guidance that’s tailored specifically to your needs.
- Fast communication so you can improve your skills quickly.
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3. Unlimited Mixing Feedback
- Unlimited professional mixing feedback directly from us so you can consistently improve your skills and create professional mixes.
- Mixing feedback is invaluable, and the Sage Audio membership gives you continual direct access to us for real-world feedback so you can improve every aspect of each of your mixes while you're in the process of mixing.
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4. 50 Free Mastered Songs Per Year
- 50 free mastered songs per year with your own dedicated professional mastering engineer so you can get all your mixes sounding like professional songs.
- You get your own dedicated Sage Audio mastering engineer to create custom masters that are specific to you and sound exactly how you want.
- Unlimited revisions with your dedicated mastering engineer. As a standard of our service, we are not happy until you are happy with the sound of your masters.
- All masters are delivered as commercial, industry-standard high-resolution 24-bit HD WAV masters so they will sound clean and clear on every platform.
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5. Community
- The Sage Audio community is a tight-knit community of passionate audio engineers who can provide you with additional real-world mixing feedback, meaningful discussions, networking, collaborations, and more.
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6. 70+ GB of Curated Sage Audio Downloadable Content
- 36 multitrack sessions spanning multiple genres for mixing practice.
- 57 un-mastered mixes spanning multiple genres for mastering practice.
- 62 Recommended Free Plugins List (vetted, tested, and approved, so you don’t have to).
- 39 Recommended Paid Plugins List (vetted, tested, and approved, so you don’t have to).
- 71 Sage Audio custom plugin presets to improve your mixes and masters.
- Sage Audio Membership Badge to showcase on your website, social channels, and portfolio.
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7. 800+ Video Catalog
- Access 700+ in-depth Sage Audio mixing and mastering videos - curated and organized into categories so you can easily take a deep dive into all aspects of audio engineering with thousands of hours of concise, expertly crafted Sage Audio videos to continually improve your skills at your own pace.
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